First week first wreck

I would keep a copy of police report for your own records, but from what you stated you were rear ended by motorist who fell asleep, not paying attention/=non preventable crash. I wouldn't mention the fact you were speeding in a construction zone.

Is your screen name a "Tropic Thunder" reference?

 

A good deal of consequences will be based on the police officers report. Since he observed that you were not at fault, the insurance company and your company will take that into consideration.

Any kind of mishap is nerve wracking, but hang in there. You should be fine.

 

its the post crash report that counts the most. see that then call that nice policeman then

 

Definitely get in touch with the officer ASAP for the report. When people’s nerves calm down so does their account of the events.

 

I got rear ended by a 17 year old girl talking on her cell phone. When talking to me she apologized and when talking to her parents she told the whole story. The trooper came and asked what happened and she told the whole story. I wasn’t cited and they towed her car away. She was shaken but didn’t require transport by the grace of God alone. 6 months later my DM calls me and reroutes me to the terminal to speak with an attorney. Apparently the girl’s family sued Swift for my gross negligence. Their entire story had changed and Swift ended up settling out of court for 1.5 million dollars. The reason? I said sorry. I #### you not. Not my fault. I was stopped at a red light and a girl tries to end her life on my dot bumper. And when it was all said and done she gave me a hug for being kind and treating her with dignity and not piling on with DOT. She told her story first and when I was asked, even though she had plainly confessed to me and 50 witnesses, I said I didn’t know what happened because I was at a red light, it changed and I started grabbing gears; looked back and there was a demolished car. I knew #### well what happened. I just didn’t want to make it worse or try to ruin her life for denting Swift’s bumper.

So she gives me a hug and I said “I’m sorry this happened to you, but it’s not the end of the world. We will both learn from this.”

1.5 million dollars. I’d be a lot more worried about something like that. Don’t try to be any more helpful than the law requires. Secure the scene and get lots and lots of pictures from every angle, skid marks, and don’t move the vehicles if you can help it until you get those pics. Then keep your #### mouth shut. Not at fault can become bankruptcy proceedings real quick like. Even that information about a couple mph over the speed limit can ruin your day. If you were going a little bit slower you wouldn’t have been there in that exact spot to be hit. YOU could have prevented the accident by doing the right thing. Now you’re guilty.

That quick. So just keep your mouth shut and secure the scene and get lots of pics.

 

Also if you were put out of service due to a failed post crash inspection, like the trailer was OOS for instance, that DOES go on your PSP and the carriers csa as a failed inspection. I’d say that is probably the biggest issue you’ll face if you didn’t say anything stupid, like sorry. The only way to negate that is time and clean inspections.

 

Unless it changed, if the other guy's truck would have had to be towed it would be on his PSP as well...even though it was the other guy's fault. The CSA is suppose to be adding a preventability decision to the drivers scoring, but I don't know if it's been implemented yet.

 

That is incorrect. Just because something is towed does not automatically involve those points. Please don't come back with that incorrect ( but its a DOT reportable ). There is no such thing as a DOT reportable. The correct term is recordable and NOTHING gets reported.