I really messed up today.

And I'm extremely embarrassed by it.

I had a backing accident today, and I'm not sure what I could have done to prevent it.

Back story: Got a call from my favorite broker. Hot load had to move NOW. I'm the only truck she has in the area, and she was more than happy to meet my rate. Cool. Sign the paper and go. Get to the shipper and I'm the only truck there. They were waiting for me, and then going home for the weekend. They assign me a dock, I stretch the axles out and then...

It was a sight side jackknife into the dock. I set up and made the axles hit the inside line. I was bringing the tractor around and still couldn't see the left side, when the trailer suddenly leaned to the left. My right side door had come unlatched and I wound up tearing it completely off against the dock.

Long story short, I've likely lost a great load (I have a second trailer staged in KC, and the load has been bumped to Monday) and I damaged a shipper's property and cost myself a ton of money.

I'm just posting this because I feel terrible about it, and maybe there's some way another new OO can learn from my mistake.

In the meantime, I'll take my e-beating. I deserve it.

I guess I'm just posting this because I screwed up and I need to vent. Thanks for listening.

 

Yeah, I know, but it's still hard to swallow. I don't think I could have done anything different, but it still sucks...

 

No worries. I appreciate the input. I have a Wabash Duraplate. It's a little old, but it's still in factory condition. All of the latches are in place and undamaged. I trusted them completely until today. I'll be using some backup measures from now on.

 

Not sure. Latches are factory issue and undamaged. Somehow or another, that one came unhitched.

 

Just to add some humor to this situation, I bought my trailer from a certain mega-fleet. The door I tore off is the one that says "Award Winning Drivers Are Courteous and Safe."