Hey RoadKill(great name . . . in your case!-lol-sorry), Lotta good and not so good advise here. You decide! I'm not quite sure I understand why your attorney isn't getting this info, though. That aside, I workED for Swift my first 7 months OTR (over the road) with intentions of getting a years experience with one of the worst(bar none) co.s in the freight transportation business! Then furthering my "career" elsewhere. The first trainer I had with Swift, for 3 of the six mandatory weeks(before going solo). He was a #######. His training was extremely poor in quality(if ya wanna call it that)compared to my second(and final) trainer. For example, I had 9 of 29 required back-ups in a lil over 3 weeks with the first(so-called)trainer. I was not allowed to use the cruise control, the exhaust brakes(which is insane, I know, now!) The second trainer went 23 days(by my approval) with me and I not only exceeded the 29(required back-ups) but finished with 49. The training(for me)was nite and day, to say the least. I learned more, the first week, with #2, than I had the previous weeks with the other. I'm sure, like most companies . . . there are people (trainers) in it for the money, and those who are in it to help others to become educated safe drivers. In your case, good luck, in finding out which this driver was . . . First off, you indicated the trailer was empty . . . that is the poorest stopping rig there is. He shudda known that, and adjusted his distance accordingly. This setup tends to chatter the wheels on "heavy" or "emergency" braking, if in fact, he saw you in time to brake at all. A loaded trailer would have, "by weight" had more contact with the road. You did not say: whether it was, wet or dry, nite or day, heavy traffic or lite traffic. Where was the sun? But, as we all know . . . "a rearend crasher, is always at fault!" Was the truck driver Drug & Alcohol tested? That's usually?, the first thing Swift requires, after an incident like yours! Swift, in fact, has 10 Million, Jerry(the owner) can pay before an insurance policy takes over! If you're just out for the $, FY, it's there, though! Swift, I will say, is very good about regular maintainance of their vehicles(they don't pay their drivers while the tractor is serviced, so for "warranty" purposes(in my experience) they will put a driver on "safety hold" (kinna like limbo . . .with no work, for that driver til vehicle comes "out of service") to accomplish any warranty work! You also "need" the maintainance records of the tractor (your attorney can acquire those for you) Also, we, as Commercial Drivers are required by DOT(department of transportation) to "pre-trip" our "rigs" multiple times of each working day & post-trip each nite), that's to say "inspect" (including all brakes, F&R) Unfortunately, some drivers are too lazy(sometimes, obesity plays a part) to pre-trip, on a regular basis, even though, it may protect their (or others) lives & property! And, in all fairness, the driver may have been "distracted" . . . cell phone, munchies, good lookin babe, "HUA". You definitely need to find out what his "track record" indicates! And, he coulda just messed up! whatever . . . hope your injuries, if any, are minor Good Luck and God Bless You, in your decisions, jb
Not that truck drivers are perfect but come on....and even though a rearend crasher is supposed to be always at fault i disagree...just yesterday i was on a 65mph hwy and some butt hole pulled right out in front of me and was'nt in a hurry to move on. i almost smeared him and was fully prepared to as opposed to jacknifing my trailer and taking out the oncoming traffic it wasn't they're fault this dude was an idiot, apparently he never seen me until i got woed up right at his bumper so to him i guess i was the idiot because the road turned into 4 lanes and when i came around him he was trying to take a picture of my trk# with his phone i guess to call in on me,lol, so i made sure not only could he see my trk# but i showed him the pretty side of my middle finger incase he wanted that in his pic folder as well.
You could possibly look into how the mentor was treating the student. Things like driving on the students login, not sleeping while student is driving, logging jump seat time as off-duty/sleeper birth, making the student log on duty time as off duty like when fueling the truck, getting papers signed etc. I know this info could be hard to document but would be very valuable and is probably the main reason he hit you.
Your driving like that is awful, if you drive like a professional and safe you would never find your self in this situation you described. What you describe is road rage.
have you lawyer ask to see toll receipts and fuel receipts to verify log book times. also swift was once the low of the lowest but western express has become the number one company to employ dummies in my opinion
This is your boss speaking. Congratulations drivers, YOU ARE FIRED for commenting on my problems from 2008.
