Life after an unreported incident?

The back of a trailer will have almost no damage at all. maybe some paint, but thats about all.

 

YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST SAID YOU HAD KNOW iDEA WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT.HIS WORD AGAINST YOURS IF THEIR ARE KNOW WITNESSES.IF NO POLICE REPORT WAS FILED HE HAS NO PROOF.YOUR MISTAKE WAS IN FESSING UP,AND TRUSTING THE MORALS OF THIS OTHER DRIVER.ALWAYS BEST TO GET A POLICE REPORT REGARDLESS OF THE DAMAGE TO COVER YOUR REAREND.

 

You get that the reason for letting the OP go was because he wasn't honest right. All the advice that states that you should deny, lie, or try to cover it up sucks. Best thing you can do in these situations, or pretty much any situation, is to tell the truth. Be honest, report it (doesn't matter how small) and follow any company policies. Anything else and you leave yourself in a position where you cannot be defended. Honesty is not only the best policy, but most often the only chance to CYA

 

but in this business, you are GUILTY until PROVEN innocent.....

a safety dept person can "grill" a driver into confessing just merely by watching body movements.......they are THAT good.....

and the police in many instances, WILL NOT show up if any accident is on private property as it becomes a "civil matter".....so what does one do, drive all around town, try to find a parking space for a big rig, then go inside the PD to report this...??

me thinksith you haven't been around too long, have ya...?????

 

What he should have done was report it to the mother ship. Let the corps battle it out. But he didn't.

If the other driver said don't worry about I would say that incident never happened no matter what.

Private property? If I ran my truck off the road and into a house, the police wouldn't come? Who knew?

 

i'm talking parking lots here bud.....please do not allow yourself a smart attitude. if you DO NOT KNOW the reason why, ask politely, instead of making a jack@zz out of yourself.

I ACTUALLY HAD THAT HAPPEN TO ME, when a Schneider driver "sided" my trailer....at the (then 76 Truck stop in Bloomsbury, NJ)....they (the local police) wanted me to go to thier station, as it WAS PRIVATE PROPERTY (making it a "civil matter/complaint" and i called MY safety dept, they told me NO, just write down everything...(and take pictures)

 

I agree however one must remember whom one is dealing with......... this is carrier management. Regardless, I carry my own camera backed up by my cell camera. If something happens I'll have photos.

In accidents, lawyers cast a wide net looking for deep pockets. Everyone gets sued whether you have anything or not. Too many times I have seen the carrier debrief the driver and then toss him aside like trash claiming stupid driver caused wreck etc.

I've said it before..... It's not alright, nobody is you're friend and it won't be ok. Property damage has been done and somebody wants to be paid.

C.Y.A.

 

You get a ticket, you get in an accident, you get fired. It's not the end of the world. You can still find work in this business. List it as an accident on your applications. Start filling them out. Now is not the time to become discouraged about money or job prospects. You can't afford to. Someone will bite.

Except maybe fuel haulers. They are pretty picky when it comes to accidents. That doesn't matter though. And what's passed is past. Saturation bombing. Apply apply apply.

 

Private property and public access property are two different animals. If I allow you to park your truck on my farm and you hit my car it is a civil mattter, however, we are talking 'parking lot' it is open to the public to use for parking. Doesn't matter if it meant for a specific group. hit someone in a Walmart parking lot and see if the police aren't called... park in that handicap spot and get caught my cop. Do tell the judge the officer didn't have juristiction because it was private property..

 

Backing trailers are incredible wrecking machines against fiberglass and sheet metal. Even though you thought maybe there was no damage, maybe lighting, he probably found a crack in the fiberglass later. Then he was in a position of justifying the crack. The last time I was hit, I missed a 3 inch hair line crack about 3 feet away, from stress I guess. It can happen. But that driver did deliberately run.

I would be hesitant to trust a stranger either. I been told wrong directions, scales closed when it's open and fed a whole bunch of BS over the years. So why would you trust another strangers word when possibly your job would be put on the line? If you hit anything other than a dock bumper, even if there is no damage, let your safety man be the judge. Drivers have been fired in back to back bumps.

The accident don't matter now. The leaving the scene of an accident now has you black balled from the industry. You can forget about applying to companies.

Your only options are to drive for someone that doesn't do a background check. eg, local owner with two dump trucks..... or
hire a lawyer and drag that driver into court and hope for the best. After all, according to you, you discussed the accident and didn't leave the scene. I would ahead of time give a full description of that driver. How would you know what he looked like if you ran?..... or
Change careers.

Everytime I been hit in a parking lot, I've called the local police and they gladly wrote up a police report.

Good luck to you driver. If you can't get things fixed, maybe someone else will read this and learn.