My first week solo after spending 2 weeks with a mentor. I ran a red light (I could have slammed on the breaks or continued through the intersection) and I broke a guys passenger side mirror pulling out of a truck stop (I pulled as far forward as I possibly could and turned and still caused damage).
Am I still able to get hired or will I have to wait and for how long?
Maybe look at driving box trucks or dumps. Maybe long trailers aren’t your thing yet. Main thing is did you learn anything from these mistakes???? Slow down, plan ahead, and pay attention.
Watching crosswalk lights on crossing traffic is a great way to plan ahead
Or watching speed limit signs so you're not blowing red lights
Everyone on the internet is an expert and a trial judge. You are not some ticking time bomb because of these events, you’re a person who tried their best and made rookie mistakes.
I’d go into driving dump or trash collection at least for the time being. Once you have some distance between you and these things happening, try OTR again if that suits you.
I'm making more consistently now running trash then I was running regional a year ago. The freight market tanked 2 years ago, but trash is steady and paying me 30 an hour to run front load dumpsters.
Now, it's not for everyone, front load is one of the most dangerous things you can do in trash, but even where I am (Midwest), roll-off pays over 25 an hour. And you get to sleep in your own bed every night.
Never heard any front load horror stories. What's the danger? Stuff falling out onto the cab?
Mostly just general hazards with an increased risk of accidents. Due to the nature of pulling into containers means we have to back up after every service.
We go into smaller spaces than any other trash truck (alleyways, container corrals, garages), low wires are an ever present threat. Trash storage locations tend to be an afterthought in most site design, so the container location can sometimes feel maliciously placed.
We start our day typically in the early morning while it's still dark, so we need to be aware of overhead wires that may not be visible in the available lighting, and pay attention as to new changes made to a property that may have changed the visible obstacles.
Then we have the public. Similar complaints as LTL drivers. They like to drive behind you while you're backing, park right alongside and/or where you need to be, and race by your parked vehicle without regard as to where the driver is. Nothing like having to pull a 3 yd on wheels out of an alleyway into the street for service, and have some yahoo speed by between the truck and the container while you're manhandling the container.
All that aside, I enjoy running front load. It keeps me focused all day, I used to get sooo bored running regional no touch freight.
Nice to know. Thanks for the insightful response. Now I'm gonna look at dumpsters way more often and be judgey of places with poor dumpster access and placement haha
You probably should look for a different career.
Yea we know. You are the best thing the road has ever seen… 🙇♂️
Would you want someone like OP driving an 80,000lb CMV with your family sharing a road with them?
Listen dudes been at it for two weeks and I see trucks running lights all day because they can’t stop you’re acting like dude hit something head on
1st off they teach in cdl school if a light is green, it will turn yellow on you. You can slow your approach which gives you time to decide and proceed legally either stopping or clearing the intersection.
2nd, street lights normally are preceded by slowing speed limit signs in advance and in slower speed zones to begin with.
Running a red light means he didn't drive safely. But he isn't alone, he's right there with the 90% of other drivers that tail a 4 wheeler with 10 ft of stopping distance between them.
Most drivers suck and are one preventable-unfortunate-for the-victim series of events from being that example on the news and videos they show you in training ad nauseam. Ego, complacency, laziness has a strangle grip on most in this industry.
Since this is most basic Driver Ed shit in class C and he failed to treat it with seriousness for his class A, twice, I'd say no, wrong profession. We got enough shit drivers, there being shit drivers don't justify bringing more on.
Yeah I mean I’m sure he could explain to you about hard greens and shit like that but sometimes you get right to the grey area and it flips yellow. This grey area is super large for new drivers because they panic and tap the breaks rather than cleanly going through the yellow avoiding the red. Also there are plenty of 45 and 55 speed areas with lights.
I’m noticing a pattern. He’s driving a truck the same as he would drive a car. It’s not a matter of if, but when, that this will lead to a major accident.
Or he went to one of those shitty school then the shitty mega gave him a trainer who didn’t care and he sucks but that can change. I see dudes do dumb shit everyday and half of them are owner ops
Being an owner op doesn’t mean you’re a safe driver.It means you had the cash or a large enough down payment. The only entrance requirement to being an owner op is money.
This is exactly my point aligned with the idea that most owner ops have some level of experience and shouldn’t doing the sketchy shit I always see
Let’s talked about something you have done by accident or an honest mistake in your career. Would you want everyone writing you off. I can guarantee you’ll be singing a different tune.
Oh I screwed up plenty my first few months on my own. But it was more like I missed an entrance or I took a wrong turn. I never hit anything nor did I run too fast to be able to stop at a traffic light. 15 years accident free.
I wouldn’t exactly say taking off somebody’s mirror by pulling out of a parking spot is putting anybody’s life in danger or a career ending incident. It was just a mistake. Next time he’ll learn from it. I got a red light ticket once I was behind a couple trucks at a red light and I was loaded heavy down in Yuma and as the light turned red, I was maybe not even halfway through the intersection and I got pulled over but I didn’t blow through it. It was more or less maybe 10 or 15 miles at the most, I couldn’t build up enough speed quick enough and I was already committed, so I went. Point is, I learned. I don’t race the light when it turns yellow anymore. Give the guy a chance. I wouldn’t count the mirror a to big of an issue. I had it happen to me. I didn’t get mad about it. The company who did it paid for the damages. Life goes on.
And OP is the worst. Which is precisely why he should find another career.
Well, next time you make a mistake or something happens for whatever reason, make sure when everyone else starts writing you off make sure you sing that same tune
I've made mistakes, non worth being fired over or that damaged property or endangered others. But when you hit shit with 2 different companies, one of which being Swift who FIRED you for it, that's a pretty damn good sign you're not in the right career.
We aren’t getting anywhere. I mean we aren’t even able to meet in the middle. So we will agree to disagree.
I'm getting strong "I've hit shit as a driver, but won't own up to it, so OP has really done nothing wrong" vibes from you.
The #1 rule in trucking is "Dont hit shit." So, if you are consistently doing just that, it's probably not for you. There's no middle ground to meet at here, it's literally that simple.
What? He did own up to it. He posted his fuck ups and asks if he is shunned from the industry. You already have him kicked to the curb. I say learn from your mistakes and move on. He will find work.
You got a long time left to drive if you stick around this industry that long. I can bet you’ll have a screw up rookie mistake somewhere along the way. Stay humble. And when your mistake happens make sure you sing the same tune. I hope I’m around to see it cause I’ll be writing you off real quick
Like I said, I've made rookie mistakes. But I've never hit shit. Much less twice with 2 companies. That's beyond a rookie mistake.
Also love how you went from "let's agree to disagree" to "I'll be there to write you off." The virtue signal is strong with this one.
There are companies out there that will hire you but you’re gonna take a hit on wages for them to compensate for higher insurance rate on you.
The biggest problem i see with this post is claiming the truckstop accident wasnt avoidable.
Why is everyone here such dicks sheesh
Because you could get people killed driving like this.
They had weeks and weeks of training and took so little of it onboard that they had multiple fuckups inside of a week then came here with a sob story.
It's deserved. It's an inherently dangerous job and the fact that they don't appear to reflected on it whatsoever makes me not want to share the road with them.
Either you don't remember you start solo or your just better than the rest of us. I went through a mega, got 35000 of time in a trainers truck. Went solo and was still shitting my pants the first 2 weeks. Admittedly I didn't hit anything but your greatly over assuming the level of training most of these kids are getting before hopping in a company truck. You can find CDL schools that will get you testing with near zero on road time and just lie to the DMV.
I'd argue it's at least partially on company's like swift for just handing these kids trucks without making sure they are competent. A welding company doesnt just hire kids that say they can weld, they have them tested to show level of competency and quality of work. These MEGA's see you having a piece of paper and practically throw you into a truck and don't even care if they are putting people at risk by doing so
You can't train common sense and I think that is biggest problem here...
Thats the only problem. I had 1 weeks training but had the sense to not hit anything, speed, and goal whenever i was in doubt. 10 years of driving and the only thing i hit was a few deer and pigs. Trip planning and the logbook isnt hard to do either.
Because OP and others want the pity party treatment for minor incidents with these posts. Theyre 100% avoidable and we as an industry need to let people know its not normal to not lay attention when operating a CMV. OP couldve killed a family running that red light and they did in fact damage another truck and ruined that oyher drivers day at the very least. They are not fit to share the road with you and your family.
Lol yup.
It's not a knock against truck drivers in general but in their (our) defense we have to put up with a ton of BS on the road, from other truck drivers, and from shippers/receivers.
everything about the job requires a cool head and thick skin. Which is why a lot of truck drivers you'll see are pissed, them boys can't keep a cool head.
You can learn to take the offenses in stride, smile back and choose to be kind or keep yourself in that cycle of perpetual anger and stress. Usually I turn into jerk after about a month or two of being otr without break. Luckily I'm at a place now where I can at least be home on the weekends.
Think you’re a perfect candidate for running hotshot or a box truck. Maybe in a couple years you could move up to running dump trucks!!! But real trucks obviously ain’t for you
Polish up your spatula SpongeBob
Anywhere there is Marcellus shale fracking there's all kind of CDL jobs for the taking, move to where the work is forget about otr motor freight it sucks
Try being a door greeter at Walmart.
Nah he might rip their arm off reaching for that receipt
A recent termination looks bad but you're not unemployable. The lack of experience is what is really going to hurt you. I was fired from my first trucking job but I had a year of experience at that point so it was easy for me to find something else. I actually found a local job paying $32/hr, did that for 2 years then got hired on at Old Dominion, which is a top LTL. Ignore the people saying you should find a different career.
I sure hope not. You're a liability.
Shit happens. You can try to call some of the other megas. Like someone else said, you should try out a box truck for now. After a couple of years of clean driving, try again. Whenever the freight picks back up, I'm sure they will start hiring everyone again. Keep your head up.
Apply to other jobs I guess? It’s not hopeless, but will be tough. Running a red can mean a lot of different things depending on the scenario. Taking out a mirror isn’t exactly a serious accident. The issue is that you did both of these things in a single week, whereas a company is more likely to let them slide when spread over an entire year. In this economy, maybe even 2 years.
Reapply in two weeks and do it all over again. They’ll never know
SWIFT Didnt teach you how to pull forward? Or GOAL? Thats odd. Id focus on driving straight then checking my mirrors more. Might be too much to ask considering your past history though.
I had a CR England do the exact same thing, had mirror assembly fixed but wind noise galore.
You got fired from Swift. I wouldn’t trust you with a shopping cart. Are you sure that driving is the right job for you? Maybe look into factory line work? Help out at a church? Any other skills that keep you from any machinery with more destructive potential than a Hot Wheel?
Swift is pretty strict from my understanding. I could probably tear way more shit up before getting fired at my company, which requires 2+ years of experience and a clean MVR
Not sure about that, what with the jokes about SWIFT. Sure Wish I Finished Training. Swing Wide It’s a Frickin Trailer. Say, Will Insurance Fix That. And a few others.
Oh, Best in Crash. My personal favorite.
Yeah, I know about the jokes, but I also know a lot of people who were denied by Swift. They just have a lot of new drivers. The ones that are doing dumb shit probably aren't around long. That being said, a lot of them are doing dumb shit
Try Western Express. If they turn you away, then you might be out of luck
Go to an ltl
shit happens, they should have sent you for retraining, not termination. Another carrier will pick you up, class b trucks might be a better place to start to get used to big vehicles
Try a straight truck, get good on that and then try again if you still want to
when u in a tight spot, tryna turn right or left, if its right and its not much space, swing yo trailer left than right bro so u create room to turn, also nvr rush bro if u tryna get in a tight space or some, u got all the time in the world go slow, fuck everybody waiting, nd it u cant move cause the other truck, and u really stuck tell em to move
You can try being a wagie instead
Yard jockey maybe? Or maybe something specialized class b? You got options.