my prospects in light of a 15 year old DUI

You can do it Baloo, but it sure as hell won't be a cake walk. I had two DUIs back in my 20s (20+ years ago), and have discovered that many companies won't even talk with a driver if they have EVER had a DUI... for some companies, that is an instant DQ. However, although you might run into that, I would encourage you to be honest when they do have you that "Have you ever had a DUI question?" If you lie and say no, they might fire you at a later date if/when they discover that you did indeed have a DUI many years ago. Needless to say, it would suck to have that happen after you've traveled to their facility for orientation and would then have to get yourself back home again. Watch-the-wording, as many companies will only ask something like "Have you had any DUIs in the past 10 years?"

BTW, since there are numerous sh!ty trucking companies out there, lots-of-research will certainly benefit you down the road. The FMCSA site (http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/sms/Data/Search.aspx) has a ton of helpful information about every trucking company, and it might help you to know if a company you're considering has a terrible safety or vehicle maintenance record. Needless to say, this website also has a huge amount of helpful information.

Good luck with your journey!

 

Many places say BYE BYE as soon as they see or hear about a DUI

 

Larger companies won't have a problem with it. Many of the smaller companies say no dui ever. I assume that is dictated by their insurance.

 

You can look them up in SAFERSYS and get a snapshot of how many power units they are running vs. how many drivers they have too. A lot of companies that are strict loosen up quite a bit when the expensive empty iron starts stacking up along the fence line.

 

If you intend to drive for a carrier that could send you to Canada you may be disqualified from entry, but you may be able to get a waiver of exclusion or follow some other method. Google "entering Canada with a DUI," here's a link to get you started.

 

I won't hire you. But that's because I don't own a company, lol.

I think one DUI 15 years ago with a clean record since then will get you in most places.

 

A 15 year old DUI will not be an issue. If the speeding tickets are 5 years old they should not be either

 

Definitely check on that and if the company runs up to Canada you HAVE to tell them about the DUI. It used to be a problem with guys that would hide it. The company wouldn't catch it because it was like 10 years old, but Canada sure did. They go back a whole lot longer than we do (or they did anyway). They'd get a load to Canada thinking they'd slide under the radar but the Canadians caught them on the Canadian side and wouldn't let them drive the truck back over to the American side and the company was stuck with a truck but no driver in Canada and it would be a big deal to have to find someone to go get it. I remember the DM going off on a guy sayin': "Why didn't you just tell us?! We'da still hired you, we just wouldn't have sent you to Canada. Sheeze!"