Well I'm Screwed.

Wow... as a soon to be student (I hope)... this is why I am actually all for front and driver/cab facing camera's, preferably with the ability for me to activate both video and audio recording at will. If I had that setup and was in the situation as described... I think I would have turned everything on and at least had a record of what was going on/what may happen as we headed down what I believed was a bad path.

Of course, I like to think, I would have told the trainer... "Sorry man, I'm just not comfortable in this situation, I'm pulling off until we come agreement as to how to proceed." I realize doing something like that is not as easy as it sounds... and I also realize that one never really knows how one will react to a situation until you actually experience it.

DId you sign up for a Driver legal service at orientation? Would they help in this situation? I signed up and hope never too have to use it. But am curious if they would help with this tragic story.

Well, I don't know much about the rest of all that, but you asked about other companies.

Have you talked to Werner? I don't know what's up with them now, but I drove for them 10 years ago. Maybe they'd be interested.

My first truck with them, maybe 6 weeks rookie, I backed over a fire hydrant in a brand new truck of theirs; only cosmetic damage. They left me in that dented truck the rest of the time I worked for them, but they didn't fire me.

I'm just getting back on the road now, and recently talked to Knight. They were interested in CDL no experience.

Hope it works out.

I agree with old school, check western expreas. They seem to be a second chance company. And old school seemed to do great with them to start out. I'm actually looking at them to star me out, since they have recently raised their pay to b e competitive in the industry for Newbies. And their pretty close to home for me, so I should be able to get a regional gig there.

Schneider is a friendly company. They give people a chance at orientation that normally others wouldn't give.

If you were fired you are no longer under contract. If it was daylight for the first few days you shouldn't have been driving. Talk to saftey.

I wish I was leaving stuff out of the story for you fellas but I'm not. "Theres gotta be more to it", there really isn't.

The only parts i'm leaving out of the story were parts I was arguing with my LT or parts of anxiety, and just small parts driving down the road and whats going on in-between the situation.

I just called everyone on TruckingTruths page, and they all said getting terminated for safety issue I will not get hired on for at least 1 year to 5 years.

Looks like my CDL career is indeed killed before it even started. Only option now is to fight it out with CRST safety I guess, and the odds of them giving me a job is as good as calling another company.

Try contacting a labor lawyer, someone who knows trucking would be best. If that fails then and look at what you can do that is not a big CDL company- Class B jobs like dump trucks or box trucks, for example. I would think if you can drive a local truck safely for a year then you can go OTR if that is your goal. As long as you have a class A CDL you have options... And you asked about what to tell employers? Tell them you trained on a freind's truck or some such story. If they don't check with DAC and there is no ticket on your MVR then only way would be to tell them you worked for/got fired from CRST which means you won't get the job anyways.

I think your trainer had it in for you. I have seen this before in the trucking industry. Some of these so-called trainers are real works of art. He seems to have been looking for any reason to get you canned and clipping that other truck's mirror was it. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a set-up but the trainer should have been proactive in this situation IMO. New driver is nervous in a tough situation, trainer needs to take over and help out. Otherwise, what is the point of sending a newbie out with a trainer? Oh right, it's about those newbies running team and making MONEY for the trainer, not actually teaching anything to new drivers. What a great system!

40 Ton Land Captain offers some questionable advice:

And you asked about what to tell employers? Tell them you trained on a freind's truck or some such story. If they don't check with DAC and there is no ticket on your MVR then only way would be to tell them you worked for/got fired from CRST which means you won't get the job anyways.

Sure, great idea, make something up. You are suggesting that the OP fabricate a story? Implied in the name of this forum, "Truth", we never and knowingly offer advice that is a boldface lie as suggested above. Far too easy to get caught, which only exacerbates the problem. Tell the truth!

40 Ton also offered this opinion:

Oh right, it's about those newbies running team and making MONEY for the trainer, not actually teaching anything to new drivers. What a great system!

Is that what it's about? Interesting. Please then suggest a better way if the current system is so flawed in your opinion. The good trainers, which there are many, earn every penny of the money they make. They sir take huge risks to train untested rookies that most of us are unwilling to accept. Perhaps you can share with us how your road training experience went...now that you are a rookie solo driver.

More thoughts on "sleeping trainers". (Not just 40 Ton has brought this fallacy up.)

Oh right, it's about those newbies running team and making MONEY for the trainer, not actually teaching anything to new drivers. What a great system!

If you've driven any amount of OTR , think about this: what percent of your time OTR is really simply keeping your truck between the lines on the highway? Do you really need constant training and watching for that? Granted, there's trip planning involved, but that should take no more than a few minutes to go over, then it's drive time. Your trainer, no matter how good or bad he/she is, does not need to be in your face for 5 hours on I-40. Snoozeville for the trainer.

At the warehouse is when the trainer needs to be on the ball, watching your activities, your backing, how you drop or hook, what you do with the bills.

(My trainer set his alarm so he was always up and training when I made a stop. I never could "sneak" a pickup on my own!) There was always overlap, when we both were up & chatting. My trainer liked to talk about Star Trek TOS.

Let me get this straight 40 Ton, the reason I became an instructor was so I could take in all that extra dough? Are you serious?

Next week I am going to pick up my first student. So basically I am going to the terminal for almost an entire week and lose my entire revenue for that period. Not only that I still have to make my truck payment which is 855 a week. For a grand total of about 2500 dollars in lost wages. After I pick up my new student they are going to pay me 350.00 a week to train my student to get his CDL. Now because he is only driving on a permit I have to be in the passenger seat the entire time he is driving, so how many hours do you think I'll be driving if I have to train a student? 500 maybe 1000 if I'm lucky. So let's say I average 3500 that only covers the lost revenue I suffered the first week.

Now after my student does his required miles 10000 and not before 15 days I have to go back to the terminal and get my student tested out, but before we test we have to make sure the student is ready for the backing portion so another day or two down the drain. After that sign the student up to test and pray they trifecta the first time. 750 dollar bonus to the trainer of that happens. Guess what that almost covers the truck payment that week I'm not running -score!!!! If the student fails to get his hard copy guess who's the big loser in this hum mm.

So your student passes and now you get 6 to 8 weeks of your student being your TNT student. The pay for student is 750 dollars which comes out of my settlement so really it's me who is paying that student to be on my truck not the company! So what's in it for me, well after all the bills are paid I make the revenue off the truck for six to eight weeks if we average 5000 miles a week I will do okay. But far from a windfall!

Listen I'm sure there are trainers doing it for the wrong reasons out there. Understand though I am risking my life there life and my livelyhood training students. I think students like yourself under appreciate hard working trainers that want to help students be successful in this field.