Guys I Need Help After A Bad Week.

Hey guys ! long time no hear! For those that remember me , I work for swift and have 6 months of exp now! I need to ask you guys for some help and advice. Let me start by asking does anyone know if swift's R.A (risk analysis score , that the company does per driver) carry over to your csa/psp score? because last week it jacked up to astronomical numbers and now i am on company probation because they have me at 36 RA pts Let me explain how i got them.

While training with my mentor , he was teaching me to angle back. while he was directing me i blindly followed his directions and i dented another trailer ( in the terminal yard) the dent was the size of a basketball but otherwise no damage. (i should have goal for myself )I reported the incident to be accountable and they gave me 12 pts for that. However this incident happened in September and it is not showing on my mvr that i pulled today. (ordered from my states official website)

On monday I was cited for my trailer not having a tag. Swift gave me 8 pts RA for that. The dot also gave me an level 2 inspection that i passed so swift gave me positive 4 its RA for that. so that brought my total score to 16 RA pts . ( i am having this taken to court by my lawyer , to see if i can get this reduced , even though i am guilty , wish me luck )

Then yesterday i was driving on i80 (speed limit 80mph) and while going down hill i let me truck hit 75 mph on 2 different occasions. No laws were broken and i was not pulled over or anything , but swift gave me 20 pts RA ( 10 its for each occasion) because the trucks are governed at 62 and it is "company policy " .

which brings me to a grand total of 36pts of RA. will any of this carry over to me CSA/PSP score? from my understanding swift cant legally report the 75 mph incident because no law within the fmsca was broken only company policy , and csa/psp only records fmsca records. please anyone who can answer this , is greatly appreciated .

Now before any of you guys go crazy , yes i have learned my lessons, albeit unfortunately , the hard way. Ever since my incident in septemeber i always goal even if i have a spotter and when I'm " sure " i have have the back.

Now i always check my tag and registration before pulling any trailer. ( Infact the trailer i picked up today did not have a registration and i had to have it faxed to me . Which involved me having to drive 50 miles to the nearest truckstop to get it . Should i have done that? You know risking being pulled over en route to get a registration ? Or should i have not pulled the trailer at all and made them send someone to bring me the registration? )

And now i maintain the governed speed of 62 at all times even if the speed limit is higher.

my goal is to go to a local company after 6 more months of clean driving, which i am confident i can do because i have learned from my missteps and I realize that i can't repeat them or let them define me.

Thanks guys .

Also any random safety tips and advice is always welcome!

You were penalized for going 75 in an 80 because their trucks are governed?

Although I must note going 75 in an 18 wheeler sounds like a bad idea...I fail to see why you would be penalized. The governor is a device that "mechanically" prevents acceleration beyond a pre-determined limit. Maybe they should add a braking mechanism to their devices. I can understand the concern, but penalizing you for going 5 mph under the speed limit on 1 hill seems (insert politically incorrect expletive).

Charlie Mac, the governor only limits speed from the engine. There's nothing to hold back coasting down a hill. I did exactly as Deonte did -nearly 70 down hill, and was called in for it.

It's not breaking the law if the posted speed limit is 75, but Swift has a policy against "over speeding", meaning faster than 68 mph.

BTW you need to over speed for a minute or two. If you catch yourself and slow down, no big deal.

Charlie Mac, the governor only limits speed from the engine. There's nothing to hold back coasting down a hill. I did exactly as Deonte did -nearly 70 down hill, and was called in for it.

It's not breaking the law if the posted speed limit is 75, but Swift has a policy against "over speeding", meaning faster than 68 mph.

BTW you need to over speed for a minute or two. If you catch yourself and slow down, no big deal.

hey man! I forgot you work for swift! did it go on your csa/psp record or?

and yes I went for more than 1 minute. they clocked me at 1 min and 09 secs ...

thanks

In regards to the "speeding" and to answer Charlie's question, company trucks are governed at 62 mph because Swift safety has determined that is a safe operating speed, fast enough to not impede traffic (much) and slow enough to control the truck. That being said, it is definitely possible to exceed the governed speed by going downhill, if the hill is steep and long enough, and also depending on how much your load weighs. The engine brake can only slow you down so much, and its the driver's responsibility to keep an eye on the speedometer. If you are driving with cruise control on, if you are in a hilly area, set the cruise at 58 mph to help prevent those overspeeds.

I don't think the RA points can be reported, and your RA score will go down eventually. Negative points will roll off one per month for each month you don't have any RA dings. Also, as you saw, things like passing a DOT inspection, a positive road report, etc can also help lower the number. But at this point, your best bet is to make sure you are adhering to Swift policies, and wait it out.

In regards to the trailer with no registration, where were you picking it up from? The registration could be faxed or emailed to the shipper and printed out there, if they allow it. Just remember that checking the registration, tags, and inspection dates is part of the trailer pretrip. I've been driving for 4 years, and I still use my pretrip cheat sheet every day, checking off every item, to make sure I don't miss anything.

What do you mean tag for trailer are we talking plates or registration? Or both? If you loose your plate or don't have one have swift send you a temp witch is good for 45 days. Also if I have to drive to pick up a registrations I have them email me a copy so I at least I have an electronic copy this may or may not help you never had a dot office ask me when I was on my way to get as copy. As for your rsa score. No that is not reportable to dmv or any one else it's something swift use to gauge how much of a risk you are. The trailer bumping, might show up on your dac , but nothing else. Good luck I hope that helps.

In regards to the "speeding" and to answer Charlie's question, company trucks are governed at 62 mph because Swift safety has determined that is a safe operating speed, fast enough to not impede traffic (much) and slow enough to control the truck. That being said, it is definitely possible to exceed the governed speed by going downhill, if the hill is steep and long enough, and also depending on how much your load weighs. The engine brake can only slow you down so much, and its the driver's responsibility to keep an eye on the speedometer. If you are driving with cruise control on, if you are in a hilly area, set the cruise at 58 mph to help prevent those overspeeds.

I don't think the RA points can be reported, and your RA score will go down eventually. Negative points will roll off one per month for each month you don't have any RA dings. Also, as you saw, things like passing a DOT inspection, a positive road report, etc can also help lower the number. But at this point, your best bet is to make sure you are adhering to Swift policies, and wait it out.

In regards to the trailer with no registration, where were you picking it up from? The registration could be faxed or emailed to the shipper and printed out there, if they allow it. Just remember that checking the registration, tags, and inspection dates is part of the trailer pretrip. I've been driving for 4 years, and I still use my pretrip cheat sheet every day, checking off every item, to make sure I don't miss anything.

thanks for the info. I was picking it up from Sioux Falls, SD , Smithfield plant.

I didn't use the pre trip card because I drilled the whole inspection so hard during training. (the registration part was not part of the training ) but I'll use it from now on ,just to be more safe and sure. that was a good tip , thank you!

I agree Errol, I totally understand the safety hazard of going so fast in such a large (heavy) vehicle.

Was there a discussion on this scenario during orientation Deonte? Where the expectations communicated clearly prior to the event? I assume the possible repercussions of excessive speed are abundantly clear, but if Swift is relying on their devices without communicating the status-quo & training drivers with an expectation of performance without outlining the proper reponse to these types of scenarios (especially if you are a graduate of their program)...they have failed in their duty to you as a paying student.

Sorry, their have been 3 replies since I started my last response LOL. If your truck is going 75...you should know this is excessive, but if you didn't & this is a result of Swift's training...that doesn't look to well on Swift's behalf.

When I went thought training we had to sign paper's saying that we had read the hand book and would fallow it. Weather you read it is up to you. Also as for the speed policy they went over it and we had to sign a paper saying we understood it.