BEWARE NEWBIES

[crzy4trkn]

OK here's my story,went to school got my CDL,went out with my trainer,and got the keys to my own truck. after a few weeks I was involved in an accident and ticketed,thankfully no injuries. within hours I was terminated,just before Christmas. so here I sit 6 weeks experience and 1 accident,and a useless piece off plastic in my pocket.I need 6 months experience and no accidents for a year off driving a cmv. but no one will hire me. so my career is over,so beware rookie 1 mistake and you are done :!: wonder why there is a driver shortage :?: my mvr is clean,and I was at my last job for 19 years. I know alot off you drivers will say its a good thing Im off the road,but I dont know off any other career were there are no 2nd chances.

[dpatt]

What was the ticket for?

[btinc]

There are 2nd chances, you just will have to go out and knock on every door there is and you will find your 2nd chance.

[mikey4069]

OK here's my story,went to school got my CDL,went out with my trainer,and got the keys to my own truck. after a few weeks I was involved in an accident and ticketed,thankfully no injuries. within hours I was terminated,just before Christmas. so here I sit 6 weeks experience and 1 accident,and a useless piece off plastic in my pocket.I need 6 months experience and no accidents for a year off driving a cmv. but no one will hire me. so my career is over,so beware rookie 1 mistake and you are done :!: wonder why there is a driver shortage :?: my mvr is clean,and I was at my last job for 19 years. I know alot off you drivers will say its a good thing Im off the road,but I dont know off any other career were there are no 2nd chances.

There are companys that will still hire you . Go over and look at GOING FER IT tread . Its on new driver help.

[crzy4trkn]

thats what I have been doing and I will keep knocking on doors. have to go to court yet on the tickets illegal turn,careless driving.

[millersod215]

1 accident isn't going to end your career, just make it a bit tougher to find your next job, there's a lot of excavation type company's, rock haulers, construction delivery, etc that will give you a chance, even with your limited experience. I hear a lot of guys saying local work is out of the picture until you get that years experience, well that's not alway true, i've been driving local since the day i got my license. And if you still want OTR, just keep looking, this one accident is not the end of the world.

[Sheepdancer]

The careless driving charge is whats going to screw you. You need to get a lawyer and see if you can keep that off your record. That on your record will look worse than an accident.

[Fourcats]

I agree, get a lawyer and fight it.
With the DOT you need to fight every ticket or you will be out.

After recieving and paying {what was believed to be a parking ticket} I realized it was a lane change citation. :x
I got a speeding ticket {72/65} in Utah, paid it. The NEXT time thru the limit had been raised to 75mph...They don't play nice at all.
The sad/bad part is the states realize they can hit drivers with totally insane fines and get away with it.

[Fourcats]

The thing you have to do is PROTECT your CDL. There are lots & lots of "rules" applied to you. Create GOOD habits now, adjust your brakes, do the pre trip, log book, seat belt, ect. Don't get caught by not doing the stuff you learned in school.

[crzy4trkn]

Thanks for all the encourgement,I have hired a CDL lawyer and we are fighting the tickets.the accident happened in New Jersey when I failed to make a jug handle turn. but I am looking local dump trucks ,grocery haulers what ever I can find.I have good references including the driver who who trained me.so if anyone needs a driver with little experance,and one good lesson under his belt in western mass send me an e-mail.

[mmiikkee]

what is a jug handle turn?

[Sealord]

Think miniature interchange with no over/underpass. A surface left turn using a 270 degree right turn, peculiar to New Jersey. BOL

[Skywalker]

Think miniature interchange with no over/underpass. A surface left turn using a 270 degree right turn, peculiar to New Jersey. BOL

Also think of it as "making a left turn from the right lane".... :shock: Picture in your mind the big "pitcher" on the front of the kool-aid package and superimpose that jug handle flat and extending out to the right away from the right lane and curving back left at the top to create an intersection. You have to do the jug-handle to make a left turn in many places in NJ, especially on the Trk 1 & 9 and other roads there.

Sooooo, you newer drivers.... if you go to NJ and are not familiar with the roads....and your directions call for a "left turn" off of a main road....watch for signs that say "All left turns made from right lane"... that is your first clue that you are going to have to use a "jug-handle" to turn left.

Go in slow, watch your tandems..... :shock: :shock: 8) 8)

[Soladad]

mmiikkee...just for you I got up out of the bunk and found my textbook from CDL class that I keep in the truck for reference. Definition in the glossary of what a jug handle turn is "is a right turn where you compensate for off-tracking of the trailer by moving into another lane of traffic before entering the intersection. This type of turn is dangerous and sloppy." Usually it is done by pulling over the center line into the on coming lane of traffic. If you signal right but move left, you confuse traffic. Someone behind you may even try to squeeze between the trailer and the curb (big no-no).

Correct manuver is called a buttonhook turn (squaring off). It is a "right turn that allows you to clear the corner by proceeding stright ahead until the trailer tires clear the corner then turning right." It takes practice but once you start to get the feel of your truck and how it turns it gets easier until one day it becomes automatic.

Soladad

[hitman]

Think miniature interchange with no over/underpass. A surface left turn using a 270 degree right turn, peculiar to New Jersey. BOL

Also think of it as "making a left turn from the right lane".... :shock: Picture in your mind the big "pitcher" on the front of the kool-aid package and superimpose that jug handle flat and extending out to the right away from the right lane and curving back left at the top to create an intersection. You have to do the jug-handle to make a left turn in many places in NJ, especially on the Trk 1 & 9 and other roads there.

Sooooo, you newer drivers.... if you go to NJ and are not familiar with the roads....and your directions call for a "left turn" off of a main road....watch for signs that say "All left turns made from right lane"... that is your first clue that you are going to have to use a "jug-handle" to turn left.

Go in slow, watch your tandems..... :shock: :shock: 8) 8)

Pretty good description skywalker. I grew up in N.J and know jug handles. It is like the handle on a pitcher, that connects with intersecting roads. But also beaware, while most jug handles are before the intersection, there are also jug handles that you have to make, after you have already gone thru the intersection, and have to loop back around. Only in N.J

[DesertRat]

mmiikkee...just for you I got up out of the bunk and found my textbook from CDL class that I keep in the truck for reference. Definition in the glossary of what a jug handle turn is "is a right turn where you compensate for off-tracking of the trailer by moving into another lane of traffic before entering the intersection. This type of turn is dangerous and sloppy." Usually it is done by pulling over the center line into the on coming lane of traffic. If you signal right but move left, you confuse traffic. Someone behind you may even try to squeeze between the trailer and the curb (big no-no).

Correct manuver is called a buttonhook turn (squaring off). It is a "right turn that allows you to clear the corner by proceeding stright ahead until the trailer tires clear the corner then turning right." It takes practice but once you start to get the feel of your truck and how it turns it gets easier until one day it becomes automatic.

Soladad

then there is the part they don't put in the book. "upon swinging your button hook, the front of your tractor will be in the wrong lane, were some jackass fourwheeler will be stopped waiting for the light to change and flatly refuse to backup and give you room to maneuver.

Never understood that section of the book to be honest. Why is hooking outward into the wrong lane before a turn sloppy, but ending the turn in the wrong lane acceptible? mind you, I understand the risk of a car trying to slide by on the right, but if you're turning with your eyes routinely checking the right mirror (and you'd better be) you can position the trailer in a way to prevent that from ever occuring. Personally, I like to take my turns line to line, pull out a bit before the turn, end up a bit wide after the turn. If the road has any width at all you can do this without encroaching either of the wrong lanes.

[evertruckerr]

No matter what you do, GET A LAWYER.

You MUST keep that careless driving citation off of your record. It carries as much weight as a DUI as far as insurance companies and therefore future employers are concerned.

At the very least, the lawyer will be able to get the charges reduced to a simple moving violation. Depending on facts and circumstances, the lawyer may even get you out of it clean (and broke). :sad:

Good Luck!