Hard Breaking Events

Listen, let me throw this out there too in the hopes it will help you guys relax a little bit.

Trucking companies famously like to make everyone think their job is on the line all the time for everything they do. Eat a Snickers Bar from the wrong end? You could be terminated. Get corn stuck in your teeth? You might be terminated. This is how many corporations do things. They're afraid the only way people will take anything seriously is if they think their job is on the line. And for some people that's surely necessary. For most it's just unneeded stress because we already take our jobs and our safety very seriously.

If you have a clean safety record I can't imagine you being fired for a few hard braking events. I agree with the guys above - everyone has hard braking events from time to time. There's no avoiding it completely.

Just focus on doing your job safely. Trust me, if you were fired for hard braking events and yet you had a clean safety record the next companies you apply to will be more than happy to bring you on board in a second. They'll be laughing at the fact your last company let you go for safety reasons without so much as a fender bender.

Well, you're probably right because there's a little more to my story that I didn't post because I'm trying to stay anonymous (although it might be too late already), but basically when it came down to it, suddenly it wasn't really a big deal and I shouldn't worry about it. But it ****es me off because it's like you said above, "unneeded stress", it caused me distraction and loss of sleep for a couple weeks, which I felt was actually the opposite of making me safer. Not to mention having to worry about how hard I press the brakes when I'm driving.

I also want to say, for those who never had a HBE or maybe didn't even have a qc in their truck, IMHO it's not always a big deal. Mine is set to trigger if you slow down by 9 mph in a second. This isn't tires screeching, things flying around the cab, It's more like it makes you lean forward a little. Two out of the 3 times it happened to me, I didn't even realize it had happened until later when I saw the little red triangle flashing. On top of that, when I called in to explain what happened the reaction was "it happens more often to drivers in your model of truck, no big deal" until suddenly it was a big deal. I think what happened was my manager was given a goal for May of reducing critical events, and thought that giving me a written warning was a way to show he was doing something about it.

This thread is getting a bit out of control.

Excessive and chronic HBEs are potentially problematic and should be addressed, especially with a rookie driver.

The OP, ROadRA93 had 3 HBEs in six months, neither excessive or chronic. In addition he has approximately 6 months of total experience. Unless it's absolutely necessary, quitting should net be his first resort.

With that said I think his safety director is being arbitrary and authoritative. Over-zealous at best. My suggestion ROadRA93 is to keep doing your job to the best of your ability and do not think about his threat of termination. Try not to let this "get into your head". Drive the truck. Trust me on this, over time as you gain more and more experience, the occurance of HBEs will become almost non-existent.

Some one else posted a thread about learning to slow down and trying to avoid hard braking. I'm not saying I'm a better driver than anyone but I slow way down before off ramps.... most highways allow a min of 40 to 45 mph. So if safe for me to do so I drop to 9th about .5 mile before the ramp. In the decel lane I drop much further.

If someone is behind me I'll even put my hazards on .. they don't know if I'm having engine trouble and it gives them a chance to pass me.

In towns with lights I do 10 mph under the limit. If it's a 50 zone I do 40. I usually downshift while approaching green lights and then upshift once close enough to know it isn't changing. Perhaps this is wrong....but it is how I deal with it. I STILL ran a red light accidentally the other day... it just turned that quickly. Hope I don't get a ticket. Haven't had one in 20 years.

I had 3 trainers... the first told me to drive a speed I feel comfortable at. The next 2 had me do 65 the whole time and complained if I dropped down. In training I took curves way too fast.... and was anxious at lights. Perhaps it was the feeling of being watched. Hope this helps.