How Hosed Am I?

Long story short, I followed the company's GPS, and it led me to a blind right curve. I tried to square it off, but a Saturn popped out and forced me to cut hard right to not hit him. It sucked the trailer into a concealed ditch which rolled the truck on the passenger side. No collision, no injuries, no ticket. I get fired for not driving the "Roehl Way" 7 weeks after getting a truck. Been applying everywhere for the past 2 weeks, endless declines. How long am I going to be borked by this?

Having read your previous posts you mention you follow too close, drive too fast and dont lead enough therefore cutting your trailer short. Sounds like that's all a factor in this crash. Definitely a preventable and your fault. This will probably haunt you for a good long while. Several years or more would be my guess. I understand what you mean about the roads. I was routed down a few back roads in Virginia today and each lane was 7 foot wide with turns but I lead enough with the truck to clear the turns and drove slow enough to avoid passing cars during the windy parts. Sorry to hear it happened. Good luck with your career.

That is to bad but I would say what happened and the way you described it is not how any trucking company would want you to drive not just "Roehl". Stopping and hitting the flashers before getting into an intersection that was "blind" would have been far better for you and your truck. I was in downtown San Antonio 2 weeks ago and making a right turn where a car coming from my right made me turn shorter than I intended, if I had continued the turn I would be replacing a stop light, I stopped hit the flashers and waited for the cars to clear to make the turn after backing up half a truck length. Some comes with a combination of experience and patience. I have only been OTR for less than 6 months but I know the main goal is getting the load delivered to destination safely with no damage to cargo 1st and 2nd on time. In my opinion.

Rollover is pretty much the kiss of death.

It's not just "The Roehl Way" - it's EVERY COMPANIES WAY.

Sorry it happened to you a newb - it could happen under those circumstances to anyone - but...

Keep applying, but with your minimal amount of experience, you may likely have to start from the bottom as a trainee - if you can get back in at all.

If you can't - as with all other MAJOR INCIDENTS - you're probably going to find companies saying 3 years.

Rick

KJ, I'm thinking you're done man.

Listen to yourself...

I followed the company's gps and it led me to a blind right curve.

You can't bring yourself to realize this was your fault. The company's GPS "led me."

Saturn popped out and forced me to cut hard right

Really? A puny little four wheeler "forced me to cut hard right." Once again somebody other than yourself seems to be in control of your truck!

Trailer was sucked into a concealed ditch which rolled the truck on the passenger side.

Oh man, not only was there a ditch right there, but it just happened to be "a concealed ditch." You gotta hate those concealed ditches just lying in wait for us drivers. But this ditch has super powers! It actually "sucked" the truck in and then rolled it over! Damn those super sucking concealed ditches!

No collision, no injuries, no ticket.

Well now, that sure makes this whole catastrophe sound innocuous doesn't it?

Dude, you rolled a truck! It's almost always the kiss of death in this career, but you make it sound like you almost ran over a kitten, but you swerved to avoid it, and those ignorant folks in the office fired you for it.

All you can do is apply everywhere. If anyone wants to know about the roll-over, you need to accept full responsibility. Let them know you made some dumb mistakes due to your inexperience. If you describe it to a prospective employer the way you did here, they will immediately want to end the conversation.

It happened on KY route 998. the ditch was badly overgrown but mowed level with the street. I cut right because I thought the worst was going to be grass and dirt on the right side trailer wheels. You can't see the ditch until you are next to the trees. If I hit the brakes I'd be in front of the guy with a full load even as slow as I was going

KJ, you just can't explain away something like this. Excuses may work elsewhere, but they won't work here.

The bottom line is you put yourself and others in a dangerous situation by rolling into that corner without any thought as to what may happen if something surprised you. The Saturn surprised you and you weren't ready. That's on you.

You can blame it on the GPS, the Saturn, the ditch, the high grass, the moon phase, the Russians, or anything else. You screwed up.

Mistakes happen. Nobody is saying you did it on purpose, and we all feel bad that this happened to you. But you'll get no sympathy here as long as you continue to blame the peripherals.

As a professional driver, you simply cannot ever put your truck into a situation and assume nothing will jump out at you. You know this now.

Own it and move on.

You may want to try CR England, Western Express and Carolina Cargo if you havent already. They maybe your best hope

Bob Cat-

That was my assessment as well.

KJ Everyone of us has made mistakes. Not like this one, but as the others have said you have to own YOUR mistakes. If those BobCat mention won't hire , try some local even AG hauling is better than nothing. But you can't keep blaming everything or anyone else but yourself. You have to slow down, your following distance is critical. But only you can be in command of that 80,000 lb monster. Cagers depend on the professional truck driver to be in control.

Get control!

Raptor

You're all correct, of course. Far be it for me to think otherwise. I had my speed and following distance worked out a while before getting a truck, and rigorously enforced it. It's mostly my fault that I wasnt trained properly, I just wanted to get moving without Mr Issues riding shotgun so I was in a hurry to check all the boxes and get out of his truck. I should have ignored the penalties for going off-route and just gotten on I-55 instead of that shortest-route mess the company gps said to use. I ignored my gut and paid the price with a 7k cdl bill that looks useless now. So much for a career change