poor vehicle maintenance - would you stay?

Sounds like a double edged sword. I would stay until you have enough minimum experience to move on. Sounds like that's the only option seeing you couldn't get or find another job at that point and time.

 

Engine brake is nice to have. You can still get away with them. Just tractor & trailer brakes get worn a little quick. Long as the tires, lights, brakes, body, air brake etc. work properly it will still be safe for transport.

Good luck & keep safe.

 

basically when I first started driving truck & trailer. I started on the bottom end vehicles. Which I gained my
Experience. Now ive been driving 3 yrs on the road. I drive safe and productive. As I can say I drive decent equipment now. Its tough with some companys if your not assigned a truck. Other people have different driving .habits. Best advice I can give dont drive a commercial truck that wont pass a pre trip inspection. Cause u as the operator are responseable. Good luck be safe.

 

Do you have dot officers there? How about a weigh station? I have and known others who were driving vehicles we felt unsafe to pull em into a weigh station when open, go park, and walk in and ask for a voluntary dot inspection. Most if they have time will do an inspection, and you could even explain that even though you came in voluntarily, that he/she write it up as a normal inspection. This will keep you out of the line of fire and most times I know in California at dunsmere I would do voluntary inspections there and most time when they found something wrong they would just give me a fix it ticket without a fine, but if they pulled me in and did an inspection you bet company and I were both paying for it.

 

We'll if you get parked at a truckstop or rest area, you can also call the non-emergency police line and ask that a certified dot officer come out to you and explain your concerns there's always more than one way to beat a bear out of a cave

 

Just make sure you're in the proper gear BEFORE the descent! I don't know why some people think they should wait until they're already roasting their brakes on an open fire.

I personally always drive with the jake brake on unless it's not allowed in a certain area due to noise regulations. I find it nice not having to use the service brake so much and it's great when traffic keeps slowing down and speeding up sporadically - just have to lift your foot up!

 

I know exactly how you feel when I started I was told by many BIG companies that I was too SMALL and couldn't handle the job, to just go home and have babies. Yes we all have to sometimes work for less then reputable companies, I too was only given 1 chance with 1 company who knew I could do it,[ they trained me ] so I worked for them for my first 9 months made only 17,000. with them. But when I moved on I was making .34/ml in 2000, which was excellent pay back then for a driver when i left that company in 2001 i was making .38/ml which was great for a driver with less than 3 yrs exp. unfortunately i had t leave co for personal reasons and it was sold to another co 2 yrs later. Man I loved that company and miss it dearly. My advise would be don't shoot yourself in the foot, be grateful to be working and PROVE the others who didn't believe in you WRONG!

 

I would agree with you for what it's worth. In a place that work is scarce... just be sure to watch you back.