Profile For Ryan B.

I am really trying to get back on the road. I have 6 preventables. I started in July of 2020 and the last one I think was in November 2021. i did not get the proper training when I first started out. The trainer I was with just had me driving, did not teach me how to back or nothing. Training was supposed to be 4 weeks, but after 4 weeks with him, when it came time to test out, I had to tell them driving was all I did. so they put me with another trainer, after 2 days with her, she quit for her own personal reasons, so I got put with another trainer, 2 nd day with him was horrible because he kept yelling at me so I got out of the truck in St. Louis and didn't get back in. They sent me home on a bus, then flew me back to the terminal, and put me another trainer for a week, I somewhat learned, I passed to test out, but I wasn't that good and that this how I got the incidents. One of them was weather related. I was getting on the scaled in Tennessee and it was packed with snow, I didn't know Ice was under the snow but when my steers started spinning, I took my foot off the gas pedal and the trailer went to the right and hit the yellow pole. Safety told me I should have told them to clean the scale before I got on it, so they said that was my fault. Another incident I was going a trailer swap in Alabama and the locking jaw would not lock around king pin. The shop kept trying to walk us through and it still would not lock, so since the shop guy was talking to the other guy on my phone, the shop guy asked me if I mind if the driver I was swapping with tried, I said no, he pulled too far out and dropped the trailer, they said that was my fault since I gave him permission, and the other 1, I was almost to my delivery in Minnesota and I heard air, so I asked if I can go to the nearest truck stop, they said since I was 20 mins from the delivery, to just go and then to the truck stop, so while backing onto the dock, I could not stop and the backed into the dock trailer hit the red light, they said that was my fault. So now no one will touch me with so many. What can I do? 

First thing, you should have spoken up while with your first trainer to tell your trainer that you need all the practice backing you can get. If it still didn't change, then you should have been on the phone with the training department of your company to tell them about the issue.

Second, your training isn't the cause of those incidents. There is one person responsible when something happens with your truck while you are operating it. My personal opinion is that you spent too much time asking for permission in doing things instead of telling your company what you are doing. When you started hearing air, you would have been justified to pull over before reaching that truck stop and telling your company that you have a problem that makes moving the truck unsafe. Or, if you wanted to get to the truck stop, do that, then contact the company and tell them that you are not moving until the problem is fixed.

As drivers, we have to have a certain amount of assertiveness that borders on being a-holes, when it comes to safety issues. Some dispatchers don't care what the problem is when you are asking for permission to do something. Those types of dispatchers need to be told this is what I am doing and why. No, I am not moving the truck, and this is why. NaeNae has a post where she points out this type of communication with her company.

The issue with the trailer is a bit confusing. My thought is that the landing gear should have been lowered until the kingpin and locking jaw were secure. Lowered landing gear prevents dropping a trailer where it's an issue. It was your responsibility to make sure that the landing gear was lowered because it was your truck under the trailer. Never let anyone operate your truck. Anything that happens is on you.

Now, as for another company, I really don't know what to tell you. I can't say whether or not another company will hire you. Companies are able to be pretty picky about who they hire right now. All I can say is to apply everywhere and see if you get any bites.

Ryan tries to nitpick:

But, this doesn't mean that a driver shouldn't have an idea as to how far in the direction of one's destination a driver can go

I never said that, or anything like it. You should pay closer attention to the context in which I spoke.

I don't disagree with you, but I do think that you are not being intellectually honest in responding to the idea of planning a place to park at the beginning of one's trip.

That's because I wasn't responding to that at all. I was however responding to the notion that anyone who doesn't plan a place to park is a failure.

Try to keep up.

I don't agree with your take on the subject. You see it as nitpicking. So be it. My opinion doesn't change and my choice in voicing my opinion doesn't change.

I'd much rather see a ramp parker than an in front of the enyrance of the only cat scale in a 40 mile radius parker.

It's not like the driver can't be woken up and asked to move. Yeah, it's annoying, but it's easily rectified.

I find Ramp parkers to be very annoying, unprofessional and it denotes laziness and a lack of pride in our trade.

When I ran nights I along with other LTL drivers took our break on the ramps, since the rest areas and truck stops are full.

Do we still count as unprofessional, or do we qualify for an exception?

I am with Davy that I think you just aren't taking the time to find a better place to park. It may require driving a couple of miles from the highway, depending on location. But isn't safety the objective over production? On ramps and off ramps really aren't safe. Drivers justify their usage in the name of getting the job done, but that logic could then be used to justify doing anything that is unsafe for the sake of productivity.

I agreed with everything you said.....until this:

To me the thought of starting a shift without knowing where and when I'm going to stop and how far I'm going to drive is a failure.

In my very successful OTR career, I almost never knew where I was going to park at the end of the day, or how far I would drive. There were far too many variables in my day for me to plan 14 hours ahead. Locking myself into a predetermined parking spot could cost me miles and productivity.

Rather, I'd do the best I could until just a couple hours before my shift ended. Then I would look ahead and map out a plan for where to park the truck. And I never had to park on a ramp.

The only exception is when I knew I'd make it to a customer's location for the night. Then it would just make more sense to stay there. Otherwise, I'm grabbing all the miles I can until it's time to start thinking of where to park.

Valid point about not nailing oneself to one particular place to park. But, this doesn't mean that a driver shouldn't have an idea as to how far in the direction of one's destination a driver can go. It doesn't mean that a driver shouldn't spend the time to see what parking is available that distance. If I have a load going 700 miles, and I am not going over 65 mph, I know that I have to park before getting to my destination. Am I going to plan to park 650 miles away? Probably not. I might be able to get that far, but it's not likely. So, I am going to find the places along my route that are around 600. At my 30-minute break, reassess and maybe 650 is possible. I have several spots in mind in a general area so that I am not hauling butt into a rest area with no time left and no spots remaining in the rest area.

I don't disagree with you, but I do think that you are not being intellectually honest in responding to the idea of planning a place to park at the beginning of one's trip.

My Fleet Manager sent out a fleet message recently stating that it is against our company policy for drivers to park on off or on ramps and roadside shoulders unless in emergency situations. Then the four-way flashers must be on and triangles put out. Contact Road Assist immediately for assistance.

I think most companies forbid parking on ramps. It is either official or unofficial policy. And it is a policy that is commonly ignored.

My schedule has me driving late at night many times when I need to get parked. And many times I have pulled into a rest area or Truckstop I had planned to park at only to find it full to capacity. Then parking on a ramp becomes necessary. But this always makes me nervous to park on a ramp. And then there is the issue highlighted in this topic: uneven and unstable ground alongside many ramps. I’d rather violate my HOS clock then park precariously along a ramp in many locations.

Last week I was going south on I49 in Missouri late at night, running out of drive time. No rest areas along that stretch and all the ramps are posted with very prominent no parking signs. Finally found a truck stop with one spot left and about 5 minutes left on my clock.

In many areas we drive in there is a crying need for more truck parking options.

Parking on a ramp is not necessary in the situation you described. At least not parking for long. By that I mean it may be needed just long enough to figure out where to go from that spot. When planning where you will park at the end of your shift, you should have at least 2 backups to your main plan. I drive at night almost exclusively. I am parking anywhere from 1 am to 6 am more often than parking during the day. I never find myself having to use a ramp for parking, even in the NE and Chicagoland. You know what places fill up fast and what places always seem to have parking at any time. Also, if you reach where you had hoped to park and it's full, PC to the next closest safe and legal place to park. When I am coming across PA on I-80, I have about 6 places that I know are a sure bet to find parking at any time, day or night. There are places like this in every area. You just have to know where to look. When going into NYC, if I have to park before entering the city, there is a place in NJ that is basically an abandoned shopping center down the street from a Pilot. Trucks park there all the time. It's up to you on whether or not to park on a ramp when a place to park is full, but it's not necessary.

You're definitely a faster hire if you have your CDL in-hand.

I'm not trying to totally refute your comment, Scott, but be careful here and consider this if you would... While that may be true with some companies, it is not always the case with every company. Most companies prefer hiring drivers who have gone through their CDL program.

Maybe I didn't say that quite the right way: If you go to a private school then several companies that would hire you will bypass the basic skills training and train you on the way they want you to drive. When you present as a licensed CDL holder then they know you have some basic driving skills and they will build on that. Also, companies that provide training require a commitment and if something goes wrong you might be financially liable for the training however government sponsored training may be available at no cost to those who qualify. They may provide training even if you're working in a lower paying job and want to move up. I understand that government sponsored CDL training usually starts in July (at least in my area).

I can only comment based on my experience but personally I felt less pressured getting the training on my own before having to perform in front of by employer. I'm sure there's pro's and con's either way but that's the way I did it. Good Luck!

I went the route you did, but it's definitely not the best way to go about entering the industry. I tried to go thr best route of company sponsored training, but my background issues prevented me from getting hired by any of the companies that provide training. I then had to either forget about trucking or go about it a different way. Because of my background issues, I had a long and difficult path to getting hired.

If at all possible, anyone thinking of becoming a truck driver, always look first for company sponsored training. Explore every opportunity there before paying for a school out-of-pocket.

Get legal advice from lawyers, not truckers.

Some applications will ask if you have ever been arrested. Some ask have you been arrested or convicted going back a certain number of years. Ehat can legally be asked and what is required to be disclosed varies by state. Some states bar employers from requiring applicants to disclose expunged records. Some states only allow employers to adk about convictions and not arrests that don't result in a conviction.

Consult with an attorney on legal matters. It typically costs less than a $100 to be given a consultation. There is no harm in getting the most accurate information about a legal matter directly from an attorney.

Laws governing what employers are allowed to ask on an application vary state-by-state. If in doubt, consult with an attorney who has experience with labor laws in the state of residence. Never take legal advice from anyone not licensed to practice law, and even then, be sure the person has experience in the area of law in question.

This issue of disclosing background issues is highly nuanced because the state laws written to govern what can be asked on an application are all worded differently. Let an experienced labor attorney in the state where a person resides tell you what you need to disclose to be within the law.