Fired...

[ta93gt]

So here's my story. I'm a 23 year old man from Pennsylvania. I had been driving bus for the past year and a few months ago, I got my class A and began driving for CRST. I may be young, but I'm a very safety conscious driver, try hard to manage my fuel and speed (4.3% avg. idle) and run as hard as I can without being illegal or putting myself in danger of fatigue. Toward the end of my second month of employment, I was driving along state highway 204 in Savannah, GA when I snagged a low power line. From my understanding, and after talking to a friend of mine who works for the DOT, power lines (or any structure for that matter) are not to be lower than 14' or 14'6" depending on the state, if they cross STATE or FEDERAL highways. Anyway, after the police had arrived on the scene and cleared me to exit the truck, I realized that these lines had caught on my CB antenna. In other words, far too low to be legal. It was late at night when I was driving and I had no way to see or anticipate hitting them. I was not cited or fined by the police. They and the power company employees were very sympathetic to my situation and the officer wrote the most lenient report he could. I did not damage the truck. Unfortunately, CRST didn't see eye to eye and they terminated me upon arriving at their terminal for home time. Now that I've been applying to other companies, I've been getting turned away, not even because of my accident, but because I was fired from my last company. It seems to me CRST doesn't want drivers unless they're completely perfect without flaw. Has anyone had an experience like this. Have any insight? I need to find another job.

[RebelDarlin]

First read this: dac report info

Get a copy of your DAC so you know exactly what CRST has put in there about why you were fired. Just like a credit report you can challenge what is in there.

BOL to ya!

[Uturn2001]

Yes, get a copy of your DAC and see what is on there....hopefully CRST is a DAC reporting company. You might be shocked with how things are listed there which, assuming you are applying to companies within your experience level, may be why you are being turned away.

A few things you can do to make sure that you are not being shot down for "lying" on your applications.

Make sure to list the accident.
Make sure to put you were terminated and the reason why.
Send in a copy of the police report with your application.

[boneebone]

See what is in your DAC and if it is not right, take the police report and put in a dispute with DAC.

[headborg]

Above is very good advice. Get the Dac yourself and look at it.

The big 'stink' is the amount of money the Utility company probably charged CRST for repair. Despite You not being at fault. All too often the company settles fast-- too fast- and leaves their driver swinging in the breeze. And later said driver gets sued personally or ends up charged after the fact (upon review- like the state of Pa can do) i.e. no charges filed at scene but later you get a letter in the mail stating you HAD 15 days from the post marking of this letter to dispute these 'charges' etc.:eek:

Good Luck

[mike3fan]

who stops?

[Mr. Ford95]

Uh yeah, I was thinking the same thing mike. :-) Question for the OP, do you know how tall your CB Antenna was at the time? Are you certain it was under 14 feet? Whomever owns the line you tore down isn't "supposed" to be charging whomever tore it down if the line was less than the minimum allowed by the Feds.

[headborg]

Uh yeah, I was thinking the same thing mike. :-) Question for the OP, do you know how tall your CB Antenna was at the time? Are you certain it was under 14 feet? Whomever owns the line you tore down isn't "supposed" to be charging whomever tore it down if the line was less than the minimum allowed by the Feds.

Heck, I didn't know CB antennas could do that anyway-- he must have one of those Stingers or custom aluminum jobs. are you sure your stacks didn't knock the line down? or the top of the trailer?



hey, just razing you.. I've been working on my photoshop skills- that took 30minutes.
Get you Dac and keep looking, plenty of drivers have topped trailers and done far worse than hit power lines-- which should have been higher than traffic passing underneath-- lucky you weren't injured or barbequed

[Mr. Ford95]

I've seen some crazy things that has brought down an overhead line before. Some of them antenna's are big enough to bring one down. Guy near me has an antenna on a work van for his CB that is as thick as my pinky finger.

Keep that police report handy since it shows no fault on your part. Being that it was Crash n Roll Stunt Team, they prolly fired you because you didn't set the truck on fire and send it flipping down the road. Had you pulled that off you might have been given the honor of Top Wheelman.

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

I can almost guarantee that your dac simply lists ...Discharged and lists the incident as either non/pre non dot ...And it's the discharge that is keeping you unemployed...I had a clean MVR and a non dot parking lot preventable on my dac at 2yrs with werner I put into crete,knight and cfi b4 discharge and all were accepting me then the discharge ,and it took 2 months 2 get work...

[HWD]

If you hit a power line with a rig that was not over-dimensional, odds are you took out a service drop, not a power line. Contacting either one can render you just as dead, but there is no real convention for service drop height. Also, I would be willing to wager your CB antenna is *not* stout enough to remove even a service drop...something more substantial on your vehicle got it.

The state utility commission, in conjunction with the power company sets the clearance limits for the given area/situation. The "feds" have *zero* to do with it.

Again, as stated above, who stops? As long as you didn't snap a pole and drag it down the road...

[Walking Eagle]

Funny aside to this. A few month back, down in Fl. I was on my way home down a street I know well. Thought to myself "Self, they must have finally put all the phone, cable TV and power lines underground", Got to the light at the corner and found where they had gone, here sat a dump truck waiting to turn right with of them strung from the front of his half up dump bed. Blew the air horn and pointed but he just waved made his right turn and set of to clean off some other streets.
Often wonder what that boy was on.

[ta93gt]

Sorry, I should have clarified a little better. The wire caught where my CB antenna bolts on, not the antenna itself, and yeah I took the pole down and dragged it a little. I didn't break or snap the actual wire. The pole was rotted to all hell and could have been kicked down from what I could see. I didn't realize I was snagged until I saw sparks in my mirror (which turned out to just be the lightbulbs breaking) It wasn't a high voltage line. It was just a little street light or something of that nature. The funny part of this whole thing is some guy in a wheelchair came up to my window and told me I'm snagged on a powerline (Thanks capt. Obvious), and when I told him he needs to get the hell out of there because it's dangerous, he asks if I could give him a few dollars for a drink haha... Either way, like I said, the cops didn't cite me and I'm waiting for my DAC report and dispute form in the mail just in case I need that. Trust me, I have no love for CRST, I'm just trying to find another job and everybody but Werner and US Xpress has turned me down JUST because I was fired, not even asking about my preventable.

Anyway, on a positive note, I spoke with a fleet manager at a regional OTR company up the street from me today and he couldn't understand why CRST fired me and I gave him all the details. He said as long as I'm 22+, have a class A with hazmat and no excessive traffic violations, they'll probably hire me, so hopefully that'll work out for me. Their miles and benefits are worlds better than CRST's anyway.

[Jumbo]

U.S. Marshall said all utilities have to be 16 feet off roadway. If you ain't snagin you ain't truckin.

[Walking Eagle]

Just curiouse but what would a US Marshal have to do with it ??? All they do is look for felons who cross state lines.
On the other hand if I cut off power, phones and the Monday night football to 1/4 of a million people I might be a felon

[ta93gt]

I didn't kill anyone's power, it was just a single street lamp. The power company wasn't angry or anything. They thought it was funny more than anything.

[coastie]

So here's my story. I'm a 23 year old man from Pennsylvania. I had been driving bus for the past year and a few months ago, I got my class A and began driving for CRST. I may be young, but I'm a very safety conscious driver, try hard to manage my fuel and speed (4.3% avg. idle) and run as hard as I can without being illegal or putting myself in danger of fatigue. Toward the end of my second month of employment, I was driving along state highway 204 in Savannah, GA when I snagged a low power line. From my understanding, and after talking to a friend of mine who works for the DOT, power lines (or any structure for that matter) are not to be lower than 14' or 14'6" depending on the state, if they cross STATE or FEDERAL highways. Anyway, after the police had arrived on the scene and cleared me to exit the truck, I realized that these lines had caught on my CB antenna. In other words, far too low to be legal. It was late at night when I was driving and I had no way to see or anticipate hitting them. I was not cited or fined by the police. They and the power company employees were very sympathetic to my situation and the officer wrote the most lenient report he could. I did not damage the truck. Unfortunately, CRST didn't see eye to eye and they terminated me upon arriving at their terminal for home time. Now that I've been applying to other companies, I've been getting turned away, not even because of my accident, but because I was fired from my last company. It seems to me CRST doesn't want drivers unless they're completely perfect without flaw. Has anyone had an experience like this. Have any insight? I need to find another job.

Ok Did CRST state this was the reason for the termination? Cause it does not sound right.

Sorry, I should have clarified a little better. The wire caught where my CB antenna bolts on, not the antenna itself, and yeah I took the pole down and dragged it a little. I didn't break or snap the actual wire. The pole was rotted to all hell and could have been kicked down from what I could see. I didn't realize I was snagged until I saw sparks in my mirror (which turned out to just be the lightbulbs breaking) It wasn't a high voltage line. It was just a little street light or something of that nature. The funny part of this whole thing is some guy in a wheelchair came up to my window and told me I'm snagged on a powerline (Thanks capt. Obvious), and when I told him he needs to get the hell out of there because it's dangerous, he asks if I could give him a few dollars for a drink haha... Either way, like I said, the cops didn't cite me and I'm waiting for my DAC report and dispute form in the mail just in case I need that. Trust me, I have no love for CRST, I'm just trying to find another job and everybody but Werner and US Xpress has turned me down JUST because I was fired, not even asking about my preventable.

Anyway, on a positive note, I spoke with a fleet manager at a regional OTR company up the street from me today and he couldn't understand why CRST fired me and I gave him all the details. He said as long as I'm 22+, have a class A with hazmat and no excessive traffic violations, they'll probably hire me, so hopefully that'll work out for me. Their miles and benefits are worlds better than CRST's anyway.

As this guy Why did CRST really fire you?

Could this be why?

no excessive traffic violations

Instead of No violation but cause there are some your not talking about here related to some other incidents and this was a last straw?

I didn't kill anyone's power, it was just a single street lamp. The power company wasn't angry or anything. They thought it was funny more than anything.

This also makes me wonder the real reason why..

Drivers has done much worst damages and not get fired. Wrecking a truck and not getting fired. Hitting Customers fences and not getting fired, so why did they fire you for knocking down some lines that was to low in the first place? Not the first time Trucks knocked down power lines, TV Cable lines, and Phone lines.

[Jumbo]

Just curiouse but what would a US Marshal have to do with it ??? All they do is look for felons who cross state lines.
On the other hand if I cut off power, phones and the Monday night football to 1/4 of a million people I might be a felon

I was interjecting humor with "A U.S. Marshall said" The bolt that holds the antenna on? How low was this wire hanging. I measured and my cb antenna mounts are 8 feet off the ground, A uhaul couldn't have gotten under that wire.

[belpre122]

I was interjecting humor with "A U.S. Marshall said" The bolt that holds the antenna on? How low was this wire hanging. I measured and my cb antenna mounts are 8 feet off the ground, A uhaul couldn't have gotten under that wire.

Enough out of you Jumbo! Back to the cage.

[ta93gt]

I was interjecting humor with "A U.S. Marshall said" The bolt that holds the antenna on? How low was this wire hanging. I measured and my cb antenna mounts are 8 feet off the ground, A uhaul couldn't have gotten under that wire.

Yeah no kidding.

As for the "no excessive violations" I mentioned, I've never had anything else happen in the truck. I was just mentioning that as part of the terms of this new company I'm looking at. CRST gave no explanation other than "any incident within the first year of employment is grounds for a 'safety termination.'"