New Split Axle Driver For Schneider And I Scrapped A Truck Backing Up

Well first let me start off by saying GOAL is extremely important and even though I knew I should have done it … I felt confident that I was able to back into a tight spot at a Pilot and scrapped the paint on the truck on my blind side with the corner of my trailer. I didn’t get too far into the spot before causing the damage on the trucks drivers side cab. The damage was extremely minor , no denting just paint damage but was 100% preventable. I was low on time and there was only a few spots available to park at in the truck lot … all of which were tight spaces with limited room to maneuver or get a good set up. Not making excuses, but I just needed a place to park before my time was up on the clock and should have got out and looked still but didn’t and made a dumb mistake. I’m a new driver with a month of solo driving under my belt. I drive a split axle flat bed for Schneider and sure enough this spot that was left was one of the harder ones to get into… I feel confident in my driving with the split axle and haven’t had any issues with backing up or tight maneuvers at all until this incident. Now all of my nerves are going to get the best of my when it comes to backing up. I called my company and reported it. The other driver reported it to his company as well and no police were involved due to it being a private property accident. I know my mistake and am willing to accept the consequences of my failure to GOAL.

My DTL/ Leader is off and won’t be on till the morning so I’m not sure what’s to become of me.

I’d love to hear about what happens with a preventable like this being on my record? I assume it will for sure go on my DAC. Are my future options now limited?

What does schneider do with new drivers who have a preventable ?

Any advice or other comments are appreciated…

I’m grateful the guy whose truck I hit was calm about it. He honked his horn as soon as I hit his truck and at first was a little aggressive but calmed down and we handled it like adults. He was a young driver like myself ( I’m 21) and I felt really bad because he has a nice new volvo so I would have been upset too…

A few other drivers came over and had some stories about mess ups they’ve had in the past and to just remember to GOAL so that did make me feel a little better knowing these things happen and to learn from them. They also all spotted me so I could finish backing up into this tight space.

So i’m grateful for those truckers out there that are happy to help us inexperienced drivers learn.

Brayson

It's good that you are taking responsibility for it. And yes, GOAL is extremely important. Also though, something that comes to mind is preventing having to back into a tight spot under pressure of the clock. Perhaps one of the best ways to avoid the situation is to not place yourself in the position of desperation.

It's an opportunity to examine trip planning and clock management. I personally plan a lot of my day with where and when I am going to park. I always shoot for a couple hour safe buffer to find a spot to shut down. I chose to tackle tough backs and parking spots on my terms as safely as possible until I was comfortable.

Often I look for out of the ordinary large areas and non mainstream truck stops, shippers and recievers that I can park at, alternatives to the large overcrowded high risk truck stops.

The things I do long before I park the truck each day can have a profound effect on weather or not I succeed on a daily basis.

As long as you take ownership and have a positive attitude Schneider will provide you some additional training, more than likely backing in this case and you will be back in business.

They do report it and you will lose your potential bonuses for the quarter.

As far as being short of time, once you're in the truck stop and off public roads, would you be able to switch to 'On Duty - Yard Move' and then take as long as you need to get parked safely without worrying about your 11 hour or 14 hour clock?

As far as being short of time, once you're in the truck stop and off public roads, would you be able to switch to 'On Duty - Yard Move' and then take as long as you need to get parked safely without worrying about your 11 hour or 14 hour clock?

Yard move cannot be used in truck stops. While they are private property, they are open to the public.

Grayson, you will be ok, as Klutch said. Schneider understands that this stuff will happens. They will probably bring you in for one day of additional training at the OC, but it will not hurt you in the long run. When I drove for Schneider, I had several similar incidents and didn’t get fired.

This is good to know… I have been using yard move every time I pull in to a truck stop whether it’s to park, fuel, scale or a combination of these for going on 8 months.

As far as being short of time, once you're in the truck stop and off public roads, would you be able to switch to 'On Duty - Yard Move' and then take as long as you need to get parked safely without worrying about your 11 hour or 14 hour clock?

Yard move cannot be used in truck stops. While they are private property, they are open to the public.

I have seen this many, many times at truck stops: drivers will appear after a crunch, but they are nowhere to be seen, nor will offer any assistance when another driver is having a struggle backing into a slot. These are the same ones that will have their phones out, posting videos to social media, along with their commentary.

As far as being short of time, once you're in the truck stop and off public roads, would you be able to switch to 'On Duty - Yard Move' and then take as long as you need to get parked safely without worrying about your 11 hour or 14 hour clock?

As Big Scott stated truck stops are not supposed to be logged as yard move. You may be able to get away with it but if you're caught it's log falsification and not good. However, many of us have done things that could be considered log falsification as well. Limp the truck into a door while logged off duty? Doing pretrip BEFORE you go on duty to save your 14 in the event of any issues? Unhooked straps/folding tarps while logged off duty?

The reality is most of us have at some point falsified our logs to benefit us. I do not encourage anybody to do so because I don't want to be held responsible if they're caught. Back when I did food service I MAY HAVE went off duty my 30 minute break (back when it needed to be off duty before your 8th hour of on duty) while unloading at a stop. I MAY HAVE ended up actually taking the break at the end of the day but it would still be falsifying. It all comes down to the risk/reward. It's best to not cut it that close on your clock but if you do go over just add a note to your logs you were parking. Another option would be switching to ON DUTY and keep the speed under 5 mph while parking. That may cause you issues though if you hit something. You could use that time towards logging your post trip to save your 70 a few minutes. Again, it's your career and license do as you see fit. I strongly encourage you though to log as you do so you have nothing to worry about. Log falsification is a very expensive citation and will impact negatively impact your career. I'm not sure how other companies handle it but where I'm at 2 times the company catches it within 1 rolling year is termination. I believe it's a week suspension your first offense.

Well first let me start off by saying GOAL is extremely important and even though I knew I should have done it … I felt confident that I was able to back into a tight spot at a Pilot and scrapped the paint on the truck on my blind side with the corner of my trailer. I didn’t get too far into the spot before causing the damage on the trucks drivers side cab. The damage was extremely minor , no denting just paint damage but was 100% preventable. I was low on time and there was only a few spots available to park at in the truck lot … all of which were tight spaces with limited room to maneuver or get a good set up. Not making excuses, but I just needed a place to park before my time was up on the clock and should have got out and looked still but didn’t and made a dumb mistake. I’m a new driver with a month of solo driving under my belt. I drive a split axle flat bed for Schneider and sure enough this spot that was left was one of the harder ones to get into… I feel confident in my driving with the split axle and haven’t had any issues with backing up or tight maneuvers at all until this incident. Now all of my nerves are going to get the best of my when it comes to backing up. I called my company and reported it. The other driver reported it to his company as well and no police were involved due to it being a private property accident. I know my mistake and am willing to accept the consequences of my failure to GOAL.

My DTL/ Leader is off and won’t be on till the morning so I’m not sure what’s to become of me.

I’d love to hear about what happens with a preventable like this being on my record? I assume it will for sure go on my DAC. Are my future options now limited?

What does schneider do with new drivers who have a preventable ?

Any advice or other comments are appreciated…

I’m grateful the guy whose truck I hit was calm about it. He honked his horn as soon as I hit his truck and at first was a little aggressive but calmed down and we handled it like adults. He was a young driver like myself ( I’m 21) and I felt really bad because he has a nice new volvo so I would have been upset too…

A few other drivers came over and had some stories about mess ups they’ve had in the past and to just remember to GOAL so that did make me feel a little better knowing these things happen and to learn from them. They also all spotted me so I could finish backing up into this tight space.

So i’m grateful for those truckers out there that are happy to help us inexperienced drivers learn.

Brayson

Boomtown

Welcome to Trucking Truth, good sir! This IS the place with the vets & mods, looking out for the likes of new guys/gals, as you!!

All the above replies are awesome; over & above...just hope you'll stop back to see them. Hang in.

Here's some GREAT reads, parallel to your inquiry: Rookie Driver 'conundrums!' Happens to the best of us. . . .

Honesty and owning up is 99% of your present, past, and future, anywhere and everywhere!

Best wishes; hope to see you stop back & let us know!

~ Anne ~