So how many accidents / incidents should a new driver expect?

The title says it all. 3 weeks into training with Swift and a previously non existent accident / incident record and dinged someone’s work vehicle with my 53’ trailer trying to park at a very crowded rest area. Said “I quit, I can’t do this anymore “ to my mentor about 10 times LOL

Yes a report was filed and yes I had to talk to claims at Swift as well as a safety person there. I didn’t deny my own stupidity here, but it definitely shook me up. Gladly no citation from the officer who showed up.

I recall when I first learned how to drive little box truck vans for a company I worked for many years ago and definitely caused far worse damages to unmanned parked vehicles in the learning process. Definitely nearly totaled one.

I just probably shouldn’t have even attempted parking in this place, but my HOS time was almost up to switch back with my mentor, who was unaware of the incident because he was getting some much needed sleep in the sleeper. I definitely don’t want to do dumb sh-t, but not sure if I’m correct in feeling this way or just being too hard on myself here.

I definitely won’t even attempt a crowded rest area again. That night was messed up. Pretty heavy rain throughout the area and every rest area was packed.

So now after several years without any accidents or incidents I got this and it definitely hurts. I do keep telling myself that I’m new and sh-t’s gonna happen but still. I’m 3 weeks in after getting my CDL and there’s definitely a whole lot they DON’T teach in CDL school.

 

One is one too many. I'm not going to harp on your situation. I have been told that a lot of preventable's happen in the wee hours of the morning when drivers are out of hours or about to go out and find themselves in these kinds of situations. When faced with this kind of situation again start screaming at that mentor to get their butt up and help you. When you get your own truck remember the term GOAL. Stay calm and learn how much room you need. If it is not there move on until you can find a safe place to park.

 

I’ll never understand why the mentors are allowed to sleep while the trainee is driving. Makes no sense at all!

That said, your whole idea of avoiding crowded parking areas is a good idea, but not really plausible. You will be stuck with tight maneuvering situations again and again, so best to get used to it. Remember to get out and look, and ask for help. Even just pulling into a rest area, if you see a guy sitting in the truck next to you, don’t be afraid to go ask him to help spot you if you aren’t comfortable doing it on your own. Any experienced driver worth his salt would rather spend five minutes helping a guy pull into a spot than deal with an accident. Good luck out there!

 

Look I recommend an office job for you, because your attitude towards hitting other vehicles.

hitting any thing costs money, either your company or the victim. There is no such thing as a ding or a dent with a truck.

 

I see you find Humor in that .. and you have to ask how many Is accidents are allowed ???? REALLY. !!!!. just like @Moose1958 1 is to many .. But the way your thread title reads you seem to think theres a allowable quota ..
Then you half ### make the excuse it was a crowded rest area
WTF they they didn't teach ya abiut GOAL in steering wheel holder school ?..
If your calling your Trainer, your mentor.then your gona have a rough road cause he /she should of been teaching you how to deal with the situation
But non of this surprises me since your hook up with Swift
You & your trainer are the exact reason why I refuse to park in a truck stop or rest area
Because your the reason we can't have nice things with worrying about guys like you destroying them
Thanks

 

I definitely think you should work on trip planning more, that way you'll know where you're going to stop to switch drivers and you won't have to be wedging yourself into a rest area because your clock is almost up.

If it was almost your trainer's turn to drive, why wasn't he already in the process of waking up?

And last, if parking was tight you should have woke your trainer up so he could get out and spot you. That's part of his job.

 

3 weeks into training and the “trainer” is in the bunk?

 

Thanks for the ones who gave helpful replies- to the ones who were EDITED ☺️

 

I agree 1 is too many, but I read somewhere that most preventables happen when the driver has 7 years experience. ( I guess that’s the magic number when we get cokky and think we’re to good to hit anything)

Learn from the mistake, no one was hurt except your pride.

I definitely do not agree with your carrier running the truck as a team (although that’s what mine did when starting out) with you having only 3 weeks experience.

That being said, not all of the fault is on you.

Good luck driver.

 

Okay, hold on. This is bound to be cut, but before it does, what did you expect? You come on a well known trucking site, where most are professionals and NEVER had an incident, you don't want to hear what people have to say. You aren't alone. In this non-consequential society we live in today, you'd like to think it's no big deal, but to us, who worked hard making sure this stuff didn't happen, it's a slap in the face. Big deal? yeah, I suppose, but in any line of work incompetence is not tolerated. Can you imagine a new airline pilot,,OOPS,,dinged that wing a little, meh, should be okay,,,well it's not. Not in that industry or ours. Your poor planning and "I quit" tells most all of us, you better find another line of work, you aren't helping the image of truckers. Good old fashioned Axx chewin'? You bet, it's what's missing in our society today.