Profile For Brian S.

I am relatively new to the industry and I drive for a small time outfit with about 12 trucks so forgive my ignorance, please.

When you have an inward facing camera in your truck, who monitors the video and to what degree is it scrutinized? Do they only look at events that have been "triggered" for whatever reason? Do they have the ability to just "look in" on you anytime for any reason they feel like? Is there a person/persons/department of people who do nothing but watch their drivers all day?

Reading through this tread is Orwellian as it gets, IMO...

I don't know about the rest of you but I've been driving for about a year and a half now and I can say that my biggest fear when I am driving is taking that truck down a road that I am not 100% certain a truck should go down. In the rare instances that this happens, the most relieving feeling in the world is meeting another truck going in the opposite direction.

Hello Everyone I am new CDL A driver , I have 3 months of experience, recently I was routed in Chicago city to go pick up a trailer and go pick up my load ,,the Company GPS sucks , anyway I just followed the GPS , and I had to pass this bridge, the bridge had no sign whatever , I was driving very slow , I cleared the first bridge, the Second bridge was hidden behind the first bridge, I stopped immediately, I did not get any ticket , but I had to inform my company, and I got terminated, now no company wants to hire me , what are my options , This was my dream job , I had invested a lot in this , any help suggestions appreciated, Thank you

There are some details missing in your story.

Did you hit the bridge? How did you get your truck out of the situation? Is this your only incident in your 3 months experience? Why did you have to inform your company?

I recently had a rollover. Dozed off, woke up going off the road and panicked and overcorrected. And rolled over on the side of the highway. I pray to god nobody was hurt. Also I am fine. Not trying to get beat up on this. I know I put lives at risk and this was terrible. That being said. I got fired and immediately started to look for another job. And found one the next day. This was yesterday. I have a hire date in 2 weeks. Problem is the rollover is not on my record yet and I didn’t mention it. I’m currently battling myself between DOING THE RIGHT THING and coming clean with the company. Or not anything and hoping I can saying work for awhile before they find out. I know these can be forums can be brutal. Especially for people like me right now. So let me have it if it will make you feel better. Just looking for advice. Also have one other dot recordable accident, side swiped a car almost 3 years ago when I first started driving.

They will find out. It's only a matter of time.

You don't want to be in a situation where you are worried all day every day about getting that call that you know is coming but you just don't know when. That's no way to live and you will be miserable. Do the right thing for their sake and your own.

Very tragic indeed. Seems more and more folks loose any sense they had once they turn that key. No matter what size vehicle. Our prayers go out for the familes of the victims.

I also hope they charge that truck driver with everything they can. It won’t help these familes, but it will help future ones.

Vehicular manslaughter seems in order. 68 year old woman and two children dead. Multiple severe injuries.

Just inexcusable negligence...

I was driving along Monday afternoon westbound on I24 through western Kentucky. I was getting very close to my exit in Kuttawa and looking forward to a nice long shower and a good meal when traffic came to a dead stop. The accident that caused this happened about 8 miles further up the road just before the bridge that crosses the Tennessee River. This bridge has been under construction for months with only one lane open.

A semi truck barreled right into the slowed traffic killing 3 people and severely injuring several others. The only explanations which make sense are that the driver either had to have fallen asleep or was looking at his phone and not even watching the road.

Details here...Tragic accident

I pick up a load of rough cut lumber almost every Monday in Mt. Pleasant TN to bring back to Minnesota. I've run the route so many times that I have everything memorized but I still like to have the Google maps GPS on just so I know what my drive time situation is.

After leaving Mt. Pleasant this past Monday my Google maps "re-routed" me "to avoid a 20 minute slowdown near Nashville". It wanted me to go down a road with a clearly marked 10'10" bridge ahead. If 13'3" is a can opener, a 10'10" is a guillotine.

I’m a 43 year old woman interested in obtaining a CDL. I’m just not sure which avenue is best. I’m a single mom so I need to be able to take kids to school but have childcare in the evenings. Also, are there paid training schools that would hire me in Southern California where I could be home daily? Thank you so much for any insight. I have 6 years experience driving a stepvan/amazon box truck by the way if that means anything lol

Hi Vanessa.

Your options appear to be limited to a local delivery type of job. Could be something like local freight, food/beverage, etc... My advice would be to look at sites like Indeed.com where these types of jobs are advertised and just try to get a feel for what openings are available in your area and then contact the employer(s) who have openings. Just call them and tell them your situation. See if you can find a fit. In my experience I have found that making that personal connection gives people the sense that you are both sincere and determined. Make enough calls and you will more than likely find someone who wants to help you.

Best of luck!

Hello all. I started driving in January. The company I was hired with, had me go through their training..then they put me with their local TEs..for 2 weeks(a week each). Now, I was OTR..I don't see how running with locals would help me with anything I might run into on the road. My first week out after that training (alone), I was sent to PA..I inevitably got stuck following my gps. Mind you I have never been to PA, so I was not familiar. I got stuck and had to call the authorities to get me out. It ended up being a preventable (fine, I get it) no citations. In the month and a half following. I got stuck in the mud a few times and needed a tow. 3 more preventables. Then my last one I hit a customers pole and knocked it sideways. I feel like I didn't get the adequate training I needed. I'm sorry this is so long winded. But I feel wronged by the company. Am I justified to fight these preventables? They let me go and now I have 5 on my record.. no one wants to hire someone with these on their record. I don't know what to do now. Someone please give me some insight. TYIA

The importance of thorough trip planning cannot be understated. Relying on something like Google maps to route you to your destination will get you into trouble eventually... and it usually won't take very long for it to happen. Follow Google maps and you will get "stuck". It is a 100% certainty. It'll take you into a residential area, down a "trucks prohibited" road, into a 12 foot bridge... it doesn't know that you are in a semi.

I never learned route planning during my training, either, but still understood that getting the truck into a bad situation would be my own fault. I've been driving for about a year and a half now and I can say that my biggest fear is taking my truck down a road that I am not 100% sure a truck should go down.

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

The thing that I'm going to take away from this more than anything else is to not judge the severity of this mistake based opon the outcome. The outcome ended up being relatively inconsequential but the exact same mistake under a different set of circumstances could have been VERY consequential.

Definitely something I never wish to repeat.