I Made a Stupid Mistake - I Need Advice

It depends on the company. Both companies I've worked for had a policy that prohibited unhooking from your trailer empty or loaded unless it was parked at a company or customer secured lot. Disregarding said policy was grounds for suspension or termination. That's why in my post I mentioned it is imperative you know all your employer's policies concerning equipment. Having written permission on the Q-com is your standard CYA kinda thing that all drivers need to use to avoid being hung out to dry should a situation occur.

 

Excellent Advice for my future en devours as trucker.

 

That has just been nominated to the #1 slot of the dumbest company policies I ever heard of. That's even dumber than Werner's no u-turn policy. Your off time is your off time. Why should you be concerned with sending the company messages when driving the truck for personal reasons?

 

This statement speaks volumes as to what kind of driver you are.

You don't see the importance of NOT performing a u-turn on a public roadway with a vehicle that is over 70 feet long? I can tell your judgement differs from mine.

I see it this way: It takes about ten seconds for me to send a message. It might take anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes to get a response. But I'm most likely to send the message hours before I arrive in my local area so the only time invested is the 10 seconds to send it and the 5 seconds to read the response. In any case this small investment of time which is less than the time it takes for a traffic light to turn could very well save my job should a sticky situation ever arise later (CYA).

And btw you should always get expressed written permission before you drive their vehicle for your personal reasons.

 

Well sald Roadkill,In other words a little common sense can and often will CYA. I drive in Chicago, but some of the WH's I frequent are off of North Ave. (IL-64), in the northwest suburbs, u-turns are legal on said street,it is well posted, as long as you are no more than 22ft. I guess a few have tried it in a tractor-trailer. It aint that important that I cant drive down a block or two .and get pointd back in the right direction

 

gotta disagree with this one....i think safe u turns can be done.......mainly on wide 4 lane state roads or us highways where there are no curves near, side streets or traffic coming

im not saying its a good idea, but you make it seem like its extremely unsafe and i just dont agree with that

 

That's great man hope everything turns out ok.

 

You mean YOU still haven't got the truck out? Have you tried doing any of the trick's of the trade that has been posted here ? Post some pic's so we can see where you got stuck at.

 

It will all be OK. Stay cool. Let us know when you get back on the road. We are hoping it all turns out well.