I was recently let go from Swift Transportation. I had been driving OTR for 9 months. I was trained on dry van but placed on reefer as soon as I went solo. The learning curve was steep and I made several mistakes. I had always been told that if one was out of time leaving a receiver, one could leave their QUALCOMM status on sleeper and 'creep' to get to a safe area for a reset. Unfortunately I did not know how to do this properly & ended up in violation a few times. Only after Swift safety contacted me was I informed of the correct way to handle that situation. I also had 4 accidents during this period, 3 of with Swift considered preventable. The first was a collision with a deer That cracked the trucks oil cooler and required a tow. That was NOT considered one of the preventable accidents or so Swift told me. The others were; First a left turn out of a narrow alley required driving a little ways up onto a grassy road shoulder. It was dark and there was either a hole hidden in the grass or a sewer line that collapsed under the trucks weight. Couldn't stop there because of traffic so I never knew exactly what the hole was. The right front steer tire went into and bounced out of the hole. This brought the fender in contact with the ground and torn the right quarter of the plastic fender off. Second, I was at a receiver waiting for a door to unload in. I had trucks on either side of me also waiting. The lot was small and there was limited room to pull forward out of the waiting area. When they assigned me a door I pulled forward swinging just a little to the left to make my right hand turn out of the parking area. It was 1/2 an inch to much. as I turned the trailer swiveled on its tandems and one of the hingeds on the back of my trailer came onto contact with the edge of the mirror of the driver who had been parked to my left. It put a crack in the lower mirror and tore the backing off. Third, I turned down a what ended up being a dead end road, looking for my destination. Upon reaching the end of that road & realizing I had gone the wrong way I had to try and get turned around. There was a waste water treatment plant to my right and I thought I might be able to jackknife the trailer into their driveway to do a 3 point turn. When I got out to look I noticed a fair bit of activity at the plant, people coming and going out of the driveway that led to their lot. On my right was a low shoulder with pine trees along the road. from my perspective I failed to notice a low metal sign on a steel post on the edge of the road reading 'Keep off the grass'. I proceeded to back up concentrating mainly on the traffic in and out of the 2 lane driveway. I ended up partially on the shoulder and backed over the sign which cut my brake line. Repair had to be called out so I could release my brakes, complete my turn and continue. A few weeks later Swift let me go. With those things on my record what are my chances of getting another trucking job? Being an OTR in the first job I have ever truly enjoyed. When I started I felt woefully unprepared, there were so many things that Swift failed to teach me. I was finally reaching the point were I was beginning to feel competent in my duties. I have learned from the mistakes that I made and believe it unlikely to make those same mistakes again. What companies are most likely to give me another shot at this career path?
Need experienced advice
Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Ben T. Larson, Nov 10, 2015.
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