Profile For Tanker Man

Hello John and welcome. This site has really streamlined job searching for drivers. If you click the Jobs link from the menu on the upper left hand corner of the page, there will be a relatively straightforward application that can be filled out and submitted. Once submitted it will be sent to multiple carriers. The preventable could make it a bit challenging as some companies would require a year without any preventable. But don’t let that discourage you and apply anyway. Let them be the ones to tell you no, so it never hurts to try.

I can’t answer anything about a dating site for truckers, I’ve never searched for one. Best info I could give on that would be to Google search for a truckers dating site. Maybe someone here can have a tad bit more input. Best of luck to you!

Really uncalled for to say my comment was dumb. I was only talking about one particular roll over on one particular ramp that there was video footage of. It was a cautionary comment made to a new driver in the same vein as the comment G-Town made.

There is a reason that tanker drivers are sometimes called suicide jockeys. I respect tanker drivers greatly but I know it’s a dangerous occupation.

I don't think it was uncalled for at all due to this line

Had he been driving a dry van or reefer , he would probably have survived a roll over.

You don't know that, and I feel you're minimizing the seriousness of a rollover in any truck with this statement.

I couldn’t agree with you more andhe78.

Ok we’ll play this game…according to the NTSB on statistics released for 2020 there were 4725 fatal accidents involving a semi that were not carrying hazardous materials and 117 accidents that did have hazardous material. That’s 97.6% that were not carrying hazmat and only 2.4% that were. Plus within that 2.4% it’s not specific on whether it was a tanker or van. So, just for a little education here. Rollovers typically happen in tankers due to speed and lateral movement of liquid…are you following?? Two very important factors that can be easily controlled by the driver. Granted there are some factors that can’t be controlled such as environmental factors ie the weather per se. But coming on here and trying to scare someone out of pulling tankers is complete bull****. I see more vans and refers on the side than I do tankers. Look up DOT MC331 trailers…how many of those have you heard of exploding? It’s fairly uncommon as the 331 trailers are for LPG products such as butane, propane, anhydrous, etc. The shell of those trailers are 3/8-1/2 thick. The few instances of rollovers I’ve seen with those trailers, the shell was never broken and the driver walked away. Yes, the gas trailers have and thinner shell and yes there are risks that you can’t control sometimes and yes you hear about the fuel haulers on TV because when it happens it’s massive. I’m pretty certain when ANY of us start our day, we start it knowing that something could happen and we may not make it home alive due to unforeseen circumstances, and god forbid that doesn’t happen to anyone but it can happen regardless of the cargo your hauling. Case in point, the pileup that happened in Dallas a few years back. Had a friend of mine pulling a load of ethanol, had a lady run right into the side of him on a suicide trip…rolled the truck over and split the tank, guess what no explosion. Walked away and talk to him everyday. Was on the phone with him when it happened. Tankers are as dangerous as you make them out to be. Respect them with the respect they deserve and you’ll be fine.

Justin, did you hear about that terrible tanker roll over and explosion under I95 in Philadelphia recently? That driver very likely burned to death. Had he been driving a dry van or reefer, he would probably have survived a roll over.

Still want to start your career pulling a tanker????????

Ok I’m going to chime in here. I started my career with zero experience pulling tankers for a very reputable tanker company in the country. Yes it was a big big big learning curve. I had maybe 15 hours of drive experience under my belt when I got my CDL. You not only have the learning curve of dealing with the surge and slosh but also learning how to handle the equipment in the elements. It can be done, I’ve been pulling tankers for 7 years and won’t pull anything else. Yes it’s a risk and I’ll admit it’s not really for new drivers and I know that sounds extremely hypocritical. But I would be willing to wager, if you put 10 new drivers on hazmat tankers, I’m saying 1 would succeed long term.

BK hit the nail on the head. Having integrity and being truthful in this industry is a must. If caught in a lie and it doesn’t matter if working for a trucking company or driving an ambulance, said company is going to question what else you’ve been lying about. It will catch up to you end of story.

John, nobody here will recommend falsifying a medical examination report. You can’t answer “no” because that’s not true. The lie will catch up to you sooner or later regardless of what happened on past reports. A falsified entry on a medical report form will put an end to a driver’s career as sure as the sun comes up.

Better to tell the truth and hope that you get an opportunity to explain yourself. Or just accept the consequences of your own actions.

Makes me wonder how the self driving units will do it...

They will get the “blue screen of death” as seen on a windows computer probably 😂😂

OK now that I have a fresh sheet, let’s continue. I really take this “situation“ to heart only because I had a really bad instructor when I started driving. The instructor was in it for the money and that was it. He continued on to train multiple other drivers that in the long run did not succeed. Meanwhile, the money line his pockets, and that’s all the driver cared about today, said driver is no longer a trainer after a major accident due to not following simple procedures, so this is why I take a very strong interest in trying to reach out to new drivers that are thinking about getting in the industry as well as drivers that are in training already. I like to see people succeed, so when you’re coming on here and talking about a driver instructor that is more concerned about his phone Dan what is going on with you as the trainee, the equipment, and the outside surrounding environment. Personally, in my opinion, it’s an unsafe environment. I personally feel you need to bring something up to swift about it or file a complaint assuming that’s even an option at this point. I don’t know where you stand at this point with your employment with him or if you have even tried to appeal. For other members reading this, I truly apologize I know this may be completely off-topic, or I may have derailed this post, and I promise it is not what I was intending to do but like I said earlier, the lack of good quality trainers in this industry is becoming a nightmare and I would like to think at some point in time everybody, if not close to a good majority people can relate.

OP, best of luck to you in the future. Keep us updated as to what happens like others have said take responsibility for your actions and apply everywhere. In order to land a good quality paying job you’re going to need the experience. If you have any other questions or concerns reach out to these guys, I’ve been working through the shadows here since I started driving just not been actively participating in the forum over the last seven years. There is a wealth of knowledge here, and even though these individuals may seem like they are harping on you, I promise you they are just laying it out there as it is. Hence the name of this website “trucking truth“. nobody is going to hold anything back.

Ok, I’m going to give you the perspective from a trainer here. Tidbit of background, I am the head trainer at the terminal I am part of for the company I work for. We have approximately 75 drivers and every driver will have to train with me at some in their training before they can be signed off and released for dispatch. Ok now on to the meat and potatoes!

There’s a few things here that concern me. First and foremost yes you need to accepted responsibility. However, you are not the only one to blame. It’s really both you and your trainer’s fault, now let me explain before I get shunned.

My company would view it as such. The driver is not a “qualified” driver meaning he or she is not ready to be released solo for dispatch. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the trainer to insure the safety of him and the trainee, as well as the well-being of everyone around them up to and including the environment(will elaborate if needed but not necessary for this instance). Therefore, the trainer should have not had his or her phone out and instead paying attention to all surroundings and taking extra caution to the needs of your training. This is a major problem in the industry is the lack and I really emphasize the word QUALITY trainers! With that being said, keep in mind, you do need to take responsibility for your actions however, the trainer should not be getting off Scott, clean and clear here. I can guarantee you the trainer would have some explaining to do where I work.

OK, let’s get to a couple key things you need to take away from this: One, except the responsibility and move on from it learn from your mistake. Guess what, you’re human just like the rest of us here. I can guarantee you at some point in time in every one of our careers. I’ll bet you almost everybody has had a preventable accident at some point in time or another, keep your head up, take a deep breath, learn from it and move on Secondly, currently not trying to beat a dead horse here, but you’re unemployed with a debt to repay back to swift. Now, this is an area I don’t have a lot of expertise in as I have worked for one company, and one company only. But when a debt Hass to be repaid, the money has to be coming in, so get a hold of swift and try to appeal the decision and if that doesn’t work look for local dump truck jobs or something they can at least get the income coming back in. I know it may not be what you want but you got to have something coming in in order to settle this debt. Let me explain why. And if somebody has some information on this, it might be worthwhile to jump in and give this individual a heads up but I was under the impression if you were under contract with another carrier That allows you to go through their CDL program and you do not finish the obligation at the terms of that contract. I was thinking that is enough right there to keep you are in eligible from hiring on to another company. Now please somebody that might have a little more experience on this step in and correct me if I’m wrong ! Two years ago, I would’ve told you to consider looking at a different carrier, but with the freight slowing down all across-the-board in believe you me, it is all across-the-board, someone has already said it in another post. Somewhere carriers can be a little more picky and choosy on who they hire and that’s exactly what they are doing. I was at a meeting with safety, training, And recruiting a month ago and we used to take well qualified candidates out of a driving school with a recommendation from the course instructor to come to our company and we have now quit doing that because we do not have the freight available to bring on new graduates like that we are able to be more selective on who we hire. So, with that being said, you might be stuck until either you get the deck cleared up or is Swift agrees to bring you back. I’m not gonna lie. I think it’s a little extreme that they let you go right off the bat, but I also understand there are circumstances as well. Some of the questions they could be asking them selves is this the first of many preventable accidents that could happen or is this just a fluke like I said, with freight, being slow across the board they may not be willing to take the chance. But, this is no reason to get discouraged, because if there is a will, there is a way trust me on that! When I got my CDL, I had a job lined up with Schneider national however, I’m on doing the final background, check and MVR check I had a situation in which I didn’t think was going to really affect me much due to the ruling. Unfortunately it did. I applied to nearly 50 different companies at the end of the day. I had three that were willing to take me. Of course after doing the research, asking the questions thinking about which company would be best for me. I chose the company I am currently at and have not looked back for seven years and at this particular point in time I have no desire to change. Had I waited until now to start driving there is a very good chance. I could be in the boat of thank you but no thanks. So, in conclusion, I feel that what my point is as you need to really come to terms of what happened, learn from it plead with Swift to give you another chance if they are even allowed to because insurance may say no and if not take a deep breath and realize we’re human we make mistakes, and the sun will come up tomorrow. To be continued.

If you put your mind to it and really pay attention to what's going on, you can do tankers starting out. That's what I did, jumped right into tankers after getting my CDL. I will say it was quite a bit of a learning curve between learning the driving game, learning the tanker, and taking in the hazmat process as well. If I had to do it all over again, I probably would have went to an OTR company and got some experience first only because I really feel I could have benefitted much more by coming into this job with experience(that is driving a dry van first). I have been doing this as well as driving all together for almost 7 months now and I love it.

I only ask because just north of Wichita, KS. I went through the same thing with a four year old DUI, wasn't an easy process of finding a job. There were a couple of factors though. One, new driver with no experience, two instead of going to an actual driving school, I went to a CDL class which just trained me how to pass the CDL exam more or less. Long story short, due to some factors not in my favor, I had a ton of rejections. Anyway, I ended getting a job pulling a tanker and been going strong for almost 7 months! If you have questions let me know. Companies will work with you, you just have to find them.