Too Many Preventable Accidents

I got my CDL in March and went to work for Werner on the Dollar General Account. To make a long story short I have had 3 preventable accidents in the last 3 months. I believe i am going to be fired by Werner after this last one. I know it sounds like I shouldn't be a driver but I do feel i have been snake bit. As a rookie driver I should not have started on the Dollar General Account with small and active parking lots. None of the accidents were involved another vehicle and they were minor nevertheless they are recorded as preventable against me. I would like to know if I will have a chance to find another driving position with my record. This has been a very humbling experience.

This has been a very humbling experience.

Hey Michael, sorry to hear about your rough beginnings. I agree with you completely about that Dollar General account not being the best place for a rookie to start out. But, I've got to tell you, trucking has humbled most, if not all of us, at one time or another, so don't lay all the blame on the account you are working. You are really getting to work on some skills at backing in unusually tight and difficult locations. Try to look at that as a positive learning experience.

My advice to you is to stick it out with Werner, that is of course if they don't get rid of you. If they keep you on after three preventables then I would say you owe them some kind of loyalty. My reasoning is that you are going to have trouble finding a job in trucking now. The management at Werner knows how tough that job is, and they are really needing drivers on that account. If they are willing to overlook these minor accidents and keep you on the payroll then I would definitely stick with them for a few years until those accidents begin to get old.

You are dead on when you say that is a tough job for a rookie. That's a tough job for anyone. There is a potential to make some really good money at that job though. I wish you the best, and hope you can hang on. The longer you can stay with it and keep a safe driving record the better off you will be.

Do you use the rollers to slide down each individual package for that account? I did that for one week with Family Dollar and the job nearly killed me. Every single store had some crazy tricky place to back up to. There was this one store down near Laredo Texas where the manager told me I had to leave my entire truck sticking out into the intersection of the road "City knows about it so you are fine", sure enough I left the truck sticking out there with flashers and cones for six hours and not a single problem with the police.

Even after two years of driving there is no amount of money they could pay me to go back to doing that account.

Nothing I can do but wish you luck, remember to always take your time in those parking lots. The folks that work at those stores were always friendly to me and do not hesitate to ask them to help spot you out there.

I worked the Dollar Tree account with US Xpress for about a year. No question that's a brutal job. The unloading is brutal in itself. But the multiple-stop loads to these tiny stores in tight little plazas is extremely difficult also.

But I have to agree with Old School. You're not snake bit and it's not the account that's giving you trouble. Your problems are because you're rushing things and/or you're making assumptions. Never rush when you're in tight areas. You have to relax and take your time. And never assume that you're going to clear something or that there's nothing behind you when you're backing. Get out and look as often as you have to in order to be 100% sure you're not going to run into anything.

Think about this......if you were only able to move forward or backward at a rate of one foot per minute, do you think you would ever hit anything? Probably not. You'd have all the time in the world to see what's around you. Heck, at that rate you could get out and look at what's behind you without even stopping the truck. You could just let it roll, jump out and look, and jump back in. You'd have all the time you need.

So just slow down, relax, and take all the time you need. If people have to wait for you, so be it. You've spent just as much time as anyone else waiting on others to get home from work, cross the street, cash out at the grocery store, or buy lottery tickets. If they have to wait for you to get backed into a tricky spot or maneuver around a tight parking lot then so be it. Too bad for them if it upsets them. They've made people wait for things in the past and they'll do it again in the future. That's life. We all do it. So just take all the time you need to do the job safely. That's all that matters.

I worked the Dollar Tree account with US Xpress for about a year. No question that's a brutal job. The unloading is brutal in itself. But the multiple-stop loads to these tiny stores in tight little plazas is extremely difficult also.

But I have to agree with Old School. You're not snake bit and it's not the account that's giving you trouble. Your problems are because you're rushing things and/or you're making assumptions. Never rush when you're in tight areas. You have to relax and take your time. And never assume that you're going to clear something or that there's nothing behind you when you're backing. Get out and look as often as you have to in order to be 100% sure you're not going to run into anything.

Think about this......if you were only able to move forward or backward at a rate of one foot per minute, do you think you would ever hit anything? Probably not. You'd have all the time in the world to see what's around you. Heck, at that rate you could get out and look at what's behind you without even stopping the truck. You could just let it roll, jump out and look, and jump back in. You'd have all the time you need.

So just slow down, relax, and take all the time you need. If people have to wait for you, so be it. You've spent just as much time as anyone else waiting on others to get home from work, cross the street, cash out at the grocery store, or buy lottery tickets. If they have to wait for you to get backed into a tricky spot or maneuver around a tight parking lot then so be it. Too bad for them if it upsets them. They've made people wait for things in the past and they'll do it again in the future. That's life. We all do it. So just take all the time you need to do the job safely. That's all that matters.

Thank you for your responses. I agree that the blame primarily belongs to me and I have learned from it. I was not patient enough and I did let the stress of the situation get the better of me. I will stay with Werner if they retain me and I would not blame them if they let me go. If they do let me go, I just would like to know if I have any options.

If they do let me go, I just would like to know if I have any options.

You might, but not likely with any major carrier. You may have to hunt for a smaller operation who is willing to give you a chance. That many preventable in such a short span of time is going to make the big boys pretty gun-shy. Not that there's anything wrong with running for a smaller fleet. There are a lot of hidden gems out there with only a handful of trucks that treat their drivers like kings. You just don't hear about them much because A) they're small and don't get much press, and B) their drivers want to keep those jobs. But don't count your chickens just yet. If they were ready to show you the door, they would've routed you to the nearest terminal immediately to turn in your truck. Just don't hit anything else!

Yep, just the other day, I saw the truck backed up to dollar store. Dude was jack-knifed at a 90 degree angle with no spare room. His trailer was up to door of the store, and steers were right along the sidewalk to asphalt seam! LOL Funny, not even close to driving yet, now the things I notice more of like that.