20 Years Experience, Now Can't Find A Job Due To Accident

Thanks, man. I will give them a try. I really appreciate this.

Wayne, I really feel for you in this situation. Have you applied to the company I drive for? JS Helwig out of Terrell, TX. Give them a try, talk to Brandy in recruiting. Tell her driver KELB referred you.

The company has a referral bonus, but tell her in this case I would not accept it. We need to get you a job, man.

I would be happy to put in a good word for you. You can call me at 608 219 4599

We are a small company and I think they would give you a real chance.

I'm at this very moment working as a security guard at a truck gate. Taking pick up numbers and checking seals.

Uh

Some more suggestions you may not have considered:

Craigslist. There are plenty of driving jobs with less picky insurance carriers. Look for ads for dump truck drivers or moving company drivers.

The usual second chance companies:

CR England

Dutch Maid Logistics

May Trucking

Paschall Truck Lines (PTL)

R&R Transportation

TransAm - Careful, they push the lease op HARD.

If all else fails, use your experience as a driver to work in an industry that serves drivers. Truck stop management, service desk at a diesel shop or a dispatcher. I once met a GM at a FlyingJ in Texas who hung up his keys after 8 years OTR. He claimed he was making more running the truck stop than he did driving.

The usual second chance companies:

CR England

Dutch Maid Logistics

May Trucking

Paschall Truck Lines (PTL)

R&R Transportation

TransAm - Careful, they push the lease op HARD.

I've applied to all of those before and again just today. Nothing going on at the gate today, so I got nothing to do except fill out applications. Also apllied at Werner, Knight, Freymiller, Hirshbaugh, (they brought me into orientation, then sent me home.

It's been a humbling experience. When I left trucking the first time, it was on my own terms, and knew I could go back if I needed to.

There is also the location issue I spotted. Do you live in Florida?

Yes, I do.

There's plenty of refrigerated carriers and tanker companies down here. Dry van , not as much. But at this point, I'm ready to jump on a plane or a bus and just stay out on the road for the entire six months that I need to put my career back together.

US express just called me. "Sorry, we can't use you." But if I had zero experience and was fresh out of high school, they'd snap me up in a heartbeat and pay for my cdl school.

Ok, you gotta stop with the "if only I was xyz......" Crap. That's what it is. A load of 💩 that is trying to shift around the fact that you messed up. It does make me wonder how EXACTLY those conversations went prior to you being sent home from two orientations. I don't think two companies would have put the money out, to do the prehire process, just to turn you around. It doesn't make any logical sense. It leads me to believe there is a disconnect between how you are reporting the incident, vs how it is showing up in their background check deep dive.

There is also the location issue I spotted. Do you live in Florida?

Yes, I do.

There's plenty of refrigerated carriers and tanker companies down here. Dry van , not as much. But at this point, I'm ready to jump on a plane or a bus and just stay out on the road for the entire six months that I need to put my career back together.

US express just called me. "Sorry, we can't use you." But if I had zero experience and was fresh out of high school, they'd snap me up in a heartbeat and pay for my cdl school.

It's just been a frustrating few months, being constantly told no.

Ok, you gotta stop with the "if only I was xyz......" Crap. That's what it is. A load of 💩 that is trying to shift around the fact that you messed up. It does make me wonder how EXACTLY those conversations went prior to you being sent home from two orientations. I don't think two companies would have put the money out, to do the prehire process, just to turn you around. It doesn't make any logical sense. It leads me to believe there is a disconnect between how you are reporting the incident, vs how it is showing up in their background check deep dive.

There is also the location issue I spotted. Do you live in Florida?

Yes, I do.

There's plenty of refrigerated carriers and tanker companies down here. Dry van , not as much. But at this point, I'm ready to jump on a plane or a bus and just stay out on the road for the entire six months that I need to put my career back together.

US express just called me. "Sorry, we can't use you." But if I had zero experience and was fresh out of high school, they'd snap me up in a heartbeat and pay for my cdl school.

Wayne I’m not sure where in Fl you live but I have a contact down there. They do reefer work. Small company. I did some work for them. Not sure if they will be interested, but never hurts to ask. My bio has my email. If your interested email me and I’ll get you in touch with them, rest is between ya’ll.

Best wishes!!

This is monumentally unfair towards you.

Even had you NOT been distracted for a second or two, sounds like this would have happened anyway. From what we can see in the police report, you did not admit to being distracted at the time. If you did, the Deputy did not include that information. Did you ever tell any of these companies that you were distracted? If so, don't do that anymore. YOU know, but that was not the cause. Losing your job over a no-fault is telling, though.

My guess is your former company is still mad about it and are actively informing your future potential employers why they do not consider you for rehire. Sometimes all it takes is saying NO for that particular question without giving a reason. Even if they give no reason, the potential employer may assume there is more to the story.

Did your former company have a dash cam for your truck? If not, did you have your own and keep that footage?

How does your DMV report look?

I need some suggestions from folks who have been here.

I worked for JB Hunt for 19 years. In 2018, I cashed in my retirement to open up my own business. Two years later, the covid shutdowns did me in, so, I went back to work for a small, family owned trucking company. In all my years in the business, working for these folks was like a dream come true. Absolutely loved working there.

I got hired in December of 2021, and in October, the accident happened. I was on I20 on a hazy foggy morning getting ready to cross the bridge over the big river into Vicksburg, when my peoplenet beeped at me. I looked down at it. Just for a couple of seconds. Those two or three seconds looked like they have ended my career. When I looked up, there it was. A parked gray 1995 era Ford Taurus, just sitting there, blocking the right hand lane, no four ways on, no nothing. The color of the thing blended perfectly with the gray asphalt and the foggy air. By the time I saw it, there was not much I could do to avoid it. There was a local cop right behind me when it happened. He was on his way to the car, because he had just been dispatched to it, someone had called it in. The lady had ran out of gas, and just left it there. No four ways on. She didn't call 911. She was cited for impeding traffic and driving without insurance. I was not cited. I asked the cop if I would be receiving a citation, and he replied "for what? You didn't do anything wrong." I have a copy of the police report. Indeed, the officer wrote it up so it was very favorable to me and hostile to the lady who left her car in middle of the road on the Mississippi River bridge.

That said, I have no excuse for not avoiding it. My attention was not 100% focused. I know that. I screwed up. Most of us have looked down at that thing for a second or two, and nothing happened. I'm telling you, when you been driving as many years as I have, eventually the law of averages is going to catch up with you, and you're going find yourself in trouble. I'm thankful she wasn't sitting in that car. I don't think I could live with myself had I taken a life that day.

The company fired me. Their reason they gave me was because I had only been there ten months. I think it was because they only have a couple dozen trucks, and I tore the hell out of that one that day.

That was in October. It's now February. I have not been able to find a job to save my life. I'm wor minimum wage jobs here in Florida. My savings has nearly dried up, and my credit cards are all maxed out. I get nothing but doors slammed in my face. I'm 59 years old, and it seems like my career is over. I've applied at dozens of companies. I've ridden the bus to orientation in various companies twice now and then sent home over this after being told it wouldn't be an issue. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm at the end of my rope. I'm too old to find work stocking shelves in an Amazon warehouse.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to any advice you can give.

But more importantly, don't let what happened to me happen to you. There's no message from your fleet manager that's more important than what is in the road ahead of you. It can wait. It doesn't matter how long you have been out here. I've got a wall filled with safety awards that I received from JB Hunt, dating all the way back to 2001. Those three seconds destroyed EVERYTHING.

My MVR has a failure to yield ticket on it from a month ago.

Trans Am offered me a spot yesterday afternoon. 31 cents per mile, OTR. I would have laughed at that offer six months ago, but now, I'm actually considering it, even though that's not even minimum wage, it is enough to pay the bills and keep the lights on for six months so I can put this behind me.

Crete told me that if I do nothing, wait until the accident is a year old, they'd consider me.

This is monumentally unfair towards you.

Even had you NOT been distracted for a second or two, sounds like this would have happened anyway.rom what we can see in the police report, you did not admit to being distracted at the time. If you did, the Deputy did not include that information. Did you ever tell any of these companies that you were distracted? If so, don't do that anymore. YOU know, but that was not the cause. Losing your job over a no-fault is telling, though.

My guess is your former company is still mad about it and are actively informing your future potential employers why they do not consider you for rehire. Sometimes all it takes is saying NO for that particular question without giving a reason. Even if they give no reason, the potential employer may assume there is more to the story.

Did your former company have a dash cam for your truck? If not, did you have your own and keep that footage?

How does your DMV report look?

I need some suggestions from folks who have been here.

I worked for JB Hunt for 19 years. In 2018, I cashed in my retirement to open up my own business. Two years later, the covid shutdowns did me in, so, I went back to work for a small, family owned trucking company. In all my years in the business, working for these folks was like a dream come true. Absolutely loved working there.

I got hired in December of 2021, and in October, the accident happened. I was on I20 on a hazy foggy morning getting ready to cross the bridge over the big river into Vicksburg, when my peoplenet beeped at me. I looked down at it. Just for a couple of seconds. Those two or three seconds looked like they have ended my career. When I looked up, there it was. A parked gray 1995 era Ford Taurus, just sitting there, blocking the right hand lane, no four ways on, no nothing. The color of the thing blended perfectly with the gray asphalt and the foggy air. By the time I saw it, there was not much I could do to avoid it. There was a local cop right behind me when it happened. He was on his way to the car, because he had just been dispatched to it, someone had called it in. The lady had ran out of gas, and just left it there. No four ways on. She didn't call 911. She was cited for impeding traffic and driving without insurance. I was not cited. I asked the cop if I would be receiving a citation, and he replied "for what? You didn't do anything wrong." I have a copy of the police report. Indeed, the officer wrote it up so it was very favorable to me and hostile to the lady who left her car in middle of the road on the Mississippi River bridge.

That said, I have no excuse for not avoiding it. My attention was not 100% focused. I know that. I screwed up. Most of us have looked down at that thing for a second or two, and nothing happened. I'm telling you, when you been driving as many years as I have, eventually the law of averages is going to catch up with you, and you're going find yourself in trouble. I'm thankful she wasn't sitting in that car. I don't think I could live with myself had I taken a life that day.

The company fired me. Their reason they gave me was because I had only been there ten months. I think it was because they only have a couple dozen trucks, and I tore the hell out of that one that day.

That was in October. It's now February. I have not been able to find a job to save my life. I'm wor minimum wage jobs here in Florida. My savings has nearly dried up, and my credit cards are all maxed out. I get nothing but doors slammed in my face. I'm 59 years old, and it seems like my career is over. I've applied at dozens of companies. I've ridden the bus to orientation in various companies twice now and then sent home over this after being told it wouldn't be an issue. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm at the end of my rope. I'm too old to find work stocking shelves in an Amazon warehouse.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to any advice you can give.

But more importantly, don't let what happened to me happen to you. There's no message from your fleet manager that's more important than what is in the road ahead of you. It can wait. It doesn't matter how long you have been out here. I've got a wall filled with safety awards that I received from JB Hunt, dating all the way back to 2001. Those three seconds destroyed EVERYTHING.

This is monumentally unfair towards you.

No one is crucifying Wayne here but this is far from monumentally unfair. He made a poor decision (possibly a series of poor decisions…more on that in a minute) that although seemingly small, resulted in a serious collision. If someone had been in the vehicle he struck, from the sounds of it that person would have likely been seriously injured or killed. Not a small mistake.

Even had you NOT been distracted for a second or two, sounds like this would have happened anyway.

If true, this information makes the situation worse for Wayne not better. Hitting a stationary vehicle is almost always, if not always, preventable. Of course the car shouldn’t have been there but we’re not talking about who’s at fault in the accident. I leave that calculation to law enforcement and insurance adjusters—who is at fault is not necessary information in determining if Wayne could have avoided the accident. If Wayne couldn’t avoid hitting a *stationary* vehicle because he couldn’t see it in time then he was either distracted, driving too fast for conditions, following too close (blocking his line of sight), or some combination of the three. From his description it was likely a combination of the first two. Both of those are considered serious violations in a truck. It’s fantastic for him that he wasn’t cited for the accident but insurance and trucking companies care about more than just citations. They care if you could have prevented the accident, why you didn’t prevent it if it was indeed preventable, and how serious it was.

I know all of that seems really really harsh…and it is, but that is the dark side of trucking. If Wayne had been driving a car, he wouldn’t be having as hard of a time finding a job and the accident would have been much less serious but it goes without saying everything becomes way more serious and deadly in a truck. We could argue all day about how fair/unfair it is that Wayne lost his job and is having a hard time finding another one but, fair or not, truck drivers are always penalized harder because our negative impact on other drivers on the road if we wreck is so much more severe.

Again, no one here is hitting Wayne over the head for what happened. He made a bad choice but he owned up to it and asked for advice. His overwhelmingly good and extensive track record, although not a justification or way out for his mistake, does earn him a good amount of respect as well. It’s also because of his track record that he’s the last person in here making excuses—he knows better than anyone what he could have done differently to prevent the accident. He honestly was lucky no one was in the car and I sincerely hope and believe he’ll be back in a truck very soon but I thought it was worth noting that this wasn’t an example of an injustice against a truck driver. And with this being a forum catered particularly to new and prospective drivers I think there’s a great deal of harm in new drivers not understanding just how serious one small mistake can be and how deadly and career-ending the consequences can be