Rough start, appreciate advice

#4 is a real baffler. A van in the middle of an intersection, you honked, ASSUMED he would move, and then ran into him? Yikes.....that right there would be enough for me not to hire you. Sorry.

 

I'm 3 weeks out from graduating my CDL program. One of our instructors stresses that we need to take ALL the room that we need to make a turn, and if we need someone to move so that we can proceed, then we wait for them to move. He says that if they refuse, simply lock the brakes, cross your arms and wait. Since you've got the intersection blocked, someone will come along and get them moving.

 

Exactly. I've been in Boston before and come across downtown road construction that was totally impossible to get around due to how they had it set up. I said ok, parked the truck and said I'll wait for them to finish! They moved some equipment so I could get around very soon after.

You certainly never proceed forward and hope something moves out of your way before you hit it!

 

I appreciate the feedback from everyone. I did not intend to sound as if I was "minimizing" my responsibility in the incidents. I am 100% responsible in each instance (minus the tornado, which wasn't really held against me). My "minimizing" was simply noting that none of them were particularly serious, but as one person here mentioned, the severity is irrelevant, the fact that they are there is the problem. I also try to maintain a humorous outlook. Would I sound more sincere or contrite if I was wailing and threatening suicide? No point in getting worked up about it, it is what it is.

And I agree that nothing is an excuse. It's my responsibility to work around these sort of situations.

@numb

No, I wasn't on the phone during any incident The sign, each incident was late at night and the last 15 minutes or so of my 14. Not an excuse, but being tired did contribute to the problem.
As for training, I received in essence none. That wasn't an exaggeration about that trucking school. The school itself, is outright illegal. They have a "friend" in DOT out there who passes their "problem" people. I saw one guy run over a curb twice, and stall the truck three times, before he even made it out of sight and the DOT guy passed him.
My company trainer was more interested in chasing lot lizards then teaching me anything. His "pre-trip" consisted of glancing at the truck as he walked up to it The safety co-ordinator at my main terminal, who gave me my roadtest before I started solo, didn't bother testing pre-trips because it was raining outside.

Not an excuse for anything no, but my initial batch of incidents was because I really DIDN'T know what I was doing It's all been trial and error for me.

Oh, I DO do pre-trips, btw It was kind of shaky at first but with a little reading, and personal experience, I figured out what things to watch for and passed without violation both inspections I received from DOT.

I always try to learn from my mistakes and avoid "the situation" again, after that, but that's not a perfect method really.

Anyway, thanks again for the feedback.

 

I'm self taught and was scared to death of running crap over. have 1 accident in 28 yrs, rear ended,. I'm not trying to be harsh,but they were almost all avoidable. and the phone thing was kind of a joke, sorry.

 

Your responsibility is to be safe and on time- no excuses. Everyone of us has had a small mishap. It's trucking. None of us are perfect. But if I were an employer, I'd say no to you. Trucks and trailers are expensive, so are insurance claims. Try to find another job, when you get one, slow down, be aware of what you are doing 100% of the time.

 

I was self taught myself, had a cdl for several years but no real otr combo experience. I'm still real careful parking after five years.

 

Hardest thing I have had to "re-learn" after 17 years is the backing. It's coming back to me, but it's not as easy as it used to be.


I tend to be more cautious backing now.

 

But I can drive real good....

 

so can these guys...



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