My first accident.

My very first winter driving tractor-trailer into a snow storm on two lane roads:
My boss said if someone came sliding into my lane head-on, he wanted me to hit the ditch. Besides the human factor, he said a tow out of the snow was way cheaper than having the tractor tied up at the body shop for three months.
So ya, you did the right thing, you're just dealing with the bureaucracy now.

 

Exactly. And it goes even deeper.

What if a third option is a brick wall that might kill the driver?

Or even a dog? Sure avoid people in place of the dog, but what about damage to the truck? Is that more important than a dogs life? And if so, what about possible lawsuits because the owner of the dog disagrees?

It's a quagmire of ethics that isn't going to be answered any time soon.


Ed

 

And that's what blows my mind. Potentially wrecking the truck in the collision, destroying the car and the person/people in it... is somehow a better choice than putting the truck upright into a ditch, fully recoverable and driveable.

The more I think about this, the angrier I get.

 

I put mine into the ditch my first winter due to lack of experience. Lost control of the tractor (hard snow, heavy wind on sheets of ice from freezing rain while pulling a roll-tite), went in straight and upright, almost got killed by another truck sliding in in front of me, got pulled out, drove back to the yard, told the truth and never heard anything about it from the company.

I got written up over having my fifth wheel slid too far forward and denting the headache rack (2-3 inches wide, half an inch deep) and scratching the front of a trailer. Negligible damage that they never fixed.

 

I ditched it only once in the past 19 years, glare ice, tail heavy, soft curve, truck went straight..... scared the living #### outta me!

 

People are cheap. They breed up new ones every day. Its and inexhaustable supply. "Trading paint" and proving the truth of the accident protects the all mighty company from potential lawsuits (which cost money).

Always protect the bottom line.

 

You need a lawyer if they try to put this as a preventable on your DAC fight it. If you go before a judge and explain it the judge should agree it is better to hit the ditch then take someone's life document them telling you that you should of hit the car report it to fmcsa if you had hit the vehicle and it could be proven you could of avoided it without immenent harm to your self that is involuntary manslaughter. Any time that you are out of work pending investigation of the incident you can sue the company for lost wages. YOU NEED A LAWYER if you don't want this on your record. Hopefully you have legal aid unsure if it would be covered I have it but can't remember the name of company now but it comes out of check each week only thing I got also have a dash can. Vantru makes one for sale on Amazon. 100 bucks 1080p 170degree viewing angle @60fps

 

Yes hireright.com now most companies keep the info I a company file until you leave that company either voluntarily or involuntarily was told this by someone e on here I think or could of been a member of safety at a company can't remember just that I felt it was reliable info

 

If you boil this down he got stuck in the mud and a wrecker pulled him out, and arguably could have been prevented. Things we dont know, weather, speed they were moving, alertness of the drivers, etc...

Company made stupid statements, true enough, but posting it on his dac is not a false statement and most carriers wont care about 1 preventable.

I rolled a tractor and a set of doubles and which is a major accident, still went back to work.

Lets not blow this out of proportion.