I had an incident where the front end of the trailer came off my chassis on an onramp ready to merge onto a freeway. It flipped on its side and slid across the freeway. The back end of conatainer was still attached to the chassis. My chassis was still attached to my upright tractor, so the chassis frame was twisted, horizontal on the front, vertical on the back. I was loaded with 35,000 lbs, 60 pallets, so they were doublestacked and top heavy. Freight probably shifted. 1 front pin was disengaged, even though it was engaged during initial pretrip, 3 hours earlier.
The other front pin sheered off. Nobody else was involved, so no injuries. No citation by CHP, and no violation upon DOT inspection. I was just getting up speed to merge, 28 mph. I have both in cab and foward facing camera footage. Been truck driving 13 years. PSP, or CSA, only shows DOT inspection for that day. It's been a month. Waiting on DAC report before applying for another job. Company let me go, saying it was a DOT rollover. After trailer was detached from chassis, Chassis straightened out. Couldnt believe it. Was able to drive tractor and chassis off to side of freeway. DOT recommended flatbed tow for safety, so I only drove tractor back to terminal. Is this a rollover? From what I understand, by definition, if nobody else was involved, no injuries, and vehicle able to drive, it shouldn't be classified as a rollover. I'm sure the DAC will say rollover by company. I was waiting on DAC so I could disclose exactly what is reported. So, question, is this a rollover, and should it be disputed if it's reported as such. I'm sure it had to be to fast for conditions, regardless.even I didn't do anything different than I've always done. I'm OCD on my pretrips, and start it by checking that particular pin, the one that was disengaged. Company says I should have done an intrip inspection after the loading was completed, even though I brought the pretripped trailer with me. What are your thoughts? As I'm sure this is going to haunt me on the job search. I am extremely grateful that no one else was involved or hurt, or worse though, as it is on my head! My responsibility!
Posted: 7 months ago
View Topic:
Rollovers
I had an incident where the front end of the trailer came off my chassis on an onramp ready to merge onto a freeway. It flipped on its side and slid across the freeway. The back end of conatainer was still attached to the chassis. My chassis was still attached to my upright tractor, so the chassis frame was twisted, horizontal on the front, vertical on the back. I was loaded with 35,000 lbs, 60 pallets, so they were doublestacked and top heavy. Freight probably shifted. 1 front pin was disengaged, even though it was engaged during initial pretrip, 3 hours earlier. The other front pin sheered off. Nobody else was involved, so no injuries. No citation by CHP, and no violation upon DOT inspection. I was just getting up speed to merge, 28 mph. I have both in cab and foward facing camera footage. Been truck driving 13 years. PSP, or CSA, only shows DOT inspection for that day. It's been a month. Waiting on DAC report before applying for another job. Company let me go, saying it was a DOT rollover. After trailer was detached from chassis, Chassis straightened out. Couldnt believe it. Was able to drive tractor and chassis off to side of freeway. DOT recommended flatbed tow for safety, so I only drove tractor back to terminal. Is this a rollover? From what I understand, by definition, if nobody else was involved, no injuries, and vehicle able to drive, it shouldn't be classified as a rollover. I'm sure the DAC will say rollover by company. I was waiting on DAC so I could disclose exactly what is reported. So, question, is this a rollover, and should it be disputed if it's reported as such. I'm sure it had to be to fast for conditions, regardless.even I didn't do anything different than I've always done. I'm OCD on my pretrips, and start it by checking that particular pin, the one that was disengaged. Company says I should have done an intrip inspection after the loading was completed, even though I brought the pretripped trailer with me. What are your thoughts? As I'm sure this is going to haunt me on the job search. I am extremely grateful that no one else was involved or hurt, or worse though, as it is on my head! My responsibility!