20 Years Experience, Now Can't Find A Job Due To Accident

I need some suggestions from folks who have been here.

I worked for JB Hunt for 19 years. In 2018, I cashed in my retirement to open up my own business. Two years later, the covid shutdowns did me in, so, I went back to work for a small, family owned trucking company. In all my years in the business, working for these folks was like a dream come true. Absolutely loved working there.

I got hired in December of 2021, and in October, the accident happened. I was on I20 on a hazy foggy morning getting ready to cross the bridge over the big river into Vicksburg, when my peoplenet beeped at me. I looked down at it. Just for a couple of seconds. Those two or three seconds looked like they have ended my career. When I looked up, there it was. A parked gray 1995 era Ford Taurus, just sitting there, blocking the right hand lane, no four ways on, no nothing. The color of the thing blended perfectly with the gray asphalt and the foggy air. By the time I saw it, there was not much I could do to avoid it. There was a local cop right behind me when it happened. He was on his way to the car, because he had just been dispatched to it, someone had called it in. The lady had ran out of gas, and just left it there. No four ways on. She didn't call 911. She was cited for impeding traffic and driving without insurance. I was not cited. I asked the cop if I would be receiving a citation, and he replied "for what? You didn't do anything wrong." I have a copy of the police report. Indeed, the officer wrote it up so it was very favorable to me and hostile to the lady who left her car in middle of the road on the Mississippi River bridge.

That said, I have no excuse for not avoiding it. My attention was not 100% focused. I know that. I screwed up. Most of us have looked down at that thing for a second or two, and nothing happened. I'm telling you, when you been driving as many years as I have, eventually the law of averages is going to catch up with you, and you're going find yourself in trouble. I'm thankful she wasn't sitting in that car. I don't think I could live with myself had I taken a life that day.

The company fired me. Their reason they gave me was because I had only been there ten months. I think it was because they only have a couple dozen trucks, and I tore the hell out of that one that day.

That was in October. It's now February. I have not been able to find a job to save my life. I'm wor minimum wage jobs here in Florida. My savings has nearly dried up, and my credit cards are all maxed out. I get nothing but doors slammed in my face. I'm 59 years old, and it seems like my career is over. I've applied at dozens of companies. I've ridden the bus to orientation in various companies twice now and then sent home over this after being told it wouldn't be an issue. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm at the end of my rope. I'm too old to find work stocking shelves in an Amazon warehouse.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to any advice you can give.

But more importantly, don't let what happened to me happen to you. There's no message from your fleet manager that's more important than what is in the road ahead of you. It can wait. It doesn't matter how long you have been out here. I've got a wall filled with safety awards that I received from JB Hunt, dating all the way back to 2001. Those three seconds destroyed EVERYTHING.

Have you got your DAC record to see what the company put on it about the accident? You get that report, it's free once a year from Hire Right. You need to do that before you apply anywhere else. Check to see if it's listed as preventable or non preventable, that will make all the difference. Once you see what's on it, then you can correct any incorrect information.

Laura

DAC is clear. The company did not report it. They didn't report anything. It's blank. It is on my PSP though. The PSP just says that there was a crash on that day, but doesn't say anything about who was at fault. It also has the police report #, which I have a copy of.

Have you got your DAC record to see what the company put on it about the accident? You get that report, it's free once a year from Hire Right. You need to do that before you apply anywhere else. Check to see if it's listed as preventable or non preventable, that will make all the difference. Once you see what's on it, then you can correct any incorrect information.

Laura

I have been told repeatedly to "go drive somewhere for six months, then come back to us." My question is, where?

That said, I have no excuse for not avoiding it. My attention was not 100% focused. I know that. I screwed up. Most of us have looked down at that thing for a second or two, and nothing happened. I'm telling you, when you been driving as many years as I have, eventually the law of averages is going to catch up with you, and you're going find yourself in trouble. I'm thankful she wasn't sitting in that car. I don't think I could live with myself had I taken a life that day.

But more importantly, don't let what happened to me happen to you. There's no message from your fleet manager that's more important than what is in the road ahead of you. It can wait. It doesn't matter how long you have been out here. I've got a wall filled with safety awards that I received from JB Hunt, dating all the way back to 2001. Those three seconds destroyed EVERYTHING.

Jeez man…

I don’t really know what to say but I want to thank you for posting this, if for no other reason than the stark reminder this is to all of us to pay attention and not take a single moment for granted. I know I’ve been guilty of this same thing and you’re absolutely right that we can only get lucky so many times. I really appreciate your ownership of your mistake…for that reason alone I’m actually surprised you haven’t found another job yet.

I don’t really have any advice you probably haven’t already tried but for what it’s worth I would try class B jobs, especially something like mixers or really anything you can find that involves driving any kind of truck. Even non-cdl box truck gigs would help get your foot back in the door. Contrary to popular opinion, class A experience is not always the only type of driving experience that matters to trucking companies. I know this firsthand because my company is like this.

The biggest thing is to make sure you get back in a combination vehicle at or before your two year anniversary from the date you were let go so that you still have at least one year of class A experience within the past three years. I had to get out of trucking for about two years because of a nasty ticket I got in my personal vehicle and I accidentally let my cdl go during that time and had to retest to get it back. When I came back I was still hireable by most companies because their insurance considered me experienced because I still had that year of experience within the last three years.

Another piece of info I learned is that some companies’ insurance will not allow them to hire someone who was fired for a safety event within the last six months. They would need you to drive somewhere else for six months and then they would hire you. Again, firsthand experience because of my own indiscretions.

If you really can’t find anything and you really need work I’d recommend finding the most reputable 1099 company you can find that will hire you and doing that for 6 months or so until you can get hired again by someone else. It’s a bad option but people do it all the time and it might be better than working minimum wage until you can get a different job.

I don’t think you’ll need to resort to this though. In my experience smaller trucking companies tend to have different insurance requirements than the big guys and you may be able to find work with one of them. Best of luck and please let us know what happens.

Man, when I started trucking, it we communicated with pay phones and the GPS was the Rand McNally Atlas. A lot less distractions. Just saying.

Wayne, I really feel for you in this situation. Have you applied to the company I drive for? JS Helwig out of Terrell, TX. Give them a try, talk to Brandy in recruiting. Tell her driver KELB referred you.

The company has a referral bonus, but tell her in this case I would not accept it. We need to get you a job, man.

I would be happy to put in a good word for you. You can call me at 608 219 4599

We are a small company and I think they would give you a real chance.

Some more suggestions you may not have considered:

Craigslist. There are plenty of driving jobs with less picky insurance carriers. Look for ads for dump truck drivers or moving company drivers.

The usual second chance companies:

CR England

Dutch Maid Logistics

May Trucking

Paschall Truck Lines (PTL)

R&R Transportation

TransAm - Careful, they push the lease op HARD.

If all else fails, use your experience as a driver to work in an industry that serves drivers. Truck stop management, service desk at a diesel shop or a dispatcher. I once met a GM at a FlyingJ in Texas who hung up his keys after 8 years OTR. He claimed he was making more running the truck stop than he did driving.

There is also the location issue I spotted. Do you live in Florida?