Company says accident was preventable/Need advice please

[ChikinTrucka]

I applaud YOUR efforts, ChickinTrucka! The only comment I would make is that a good time to TAKE a BREAK is during the 30 minutes of the setting or rising sun! We need breaks anyways..... why not take them at a time when our ability to see "down the road" is at its lowest point?

But, if you ARE going to be on the road at these times..... I would add THIS:

If the sun is setting OR rising BEHIND you, it is EASY for you/us to see ahead, right? So.... why bother with headlights? Because the traffic coming towards us is looking INTO the sun, and can't see us as well WITHOUT them!

And, in the opposite case.... our headlights won't HELP us much will they? NO..... but they'll help us to see the truck BEHIIND US... and the one ahead of us to see US!!! Almost as bad as the sun in our eyes.... is the sun in our MIRRORS!!

And 4wheelers have the SAME problem!!!

Yes.... Virginia.... MOST accidents ARE preventable!! And many MORE would be if EVERY driver on the road (especially truckers) would recognize THEIR part in doing so!

It is not enough (IMHO) to just tell each other to "be safe." It is imperative that we ALL "pay attention" to those things that will MAKE us "safe!" And we cannot slack off for even ONE moment! The stakes are just TOO high!

Great advice Hobo, to be sure! Thanks. I never thought of taking a break. I'm pretty stubborn, and once in motion, like a spaceship, I don't like to stop unless I MUST! I don't stop as often as I should. And, yes indeedy, we must all pay attention. I'm guilty of using the phone, but I try to keep in the right lane, out of the way, and pay ATTENTION! I hate it when I pass a truck that's in the middle lane holding up traffic and when I go by I see he's on the phone. Same goes for 4-wheelers. I have daytime running lights, but I might start running all the lights just to be sure. That's another thing that really annoys me; when people don't turn on their lights in inclement weather. It just makes sense to turn them on when it's hard to see. I saw 3 more truck wrecks this week. One on I-81 in W.V. that had traffic completely stopped for 4 hours and another that was on it's side on a get-on ramp in MA. That one looked like a load of paper rolls, that probably shifted. I have hauled them, and they are never properly secured unless you do it yourself. I had 6 rolls, 8 feet high in the middle of the trailer, about 44,000 lbs. I had to tell the shipper to tie them together, like it says right on their loading chart on the wall, and he said "they'll be fine, we never tie them together", I pointed to the chart and wouldn't leave until they were strapped!

[Westcoast driver]

Back when I was doing the dedicated "SuperWalMart" stuff -- out of Northern Utah -- I had an accident in Wyoming. It was new years and I was deadheading West on I-80 driving over Elk Mountain. I was driving relatively slow because I had an 53 foot dry van that can really get blown around -- especially if you hit ice and have no weight.

The sun was out and spray was coming off of the road. I saw a couple of cars down in the center median -- and the next thing I knew I was sliding. I heard somebody on the radio yell "Save it! Save it!" and I almost did. I got it straight but I was sliding for the shoulder. I was only going about 15 mph at this point and I figured I would just ease to a stop. The next thing I knew the tractor was breaking traction on me. I pulled on the hand brake but it didn't seem to help and my sleeper jack-knifed into the trailer and I slid to a stop. It wasn't a really major accident and I think it cost only $5000 to repair the sleeper. Really minor right? Well it was called "preventable" and I was later fired over it.

But what really amazed me is that after my accident another driver sheepishly told me a story of something that happened back when he had worked as a "Safety Man" for a certain company -- out here on the west coast. A number of their drivers had gotten caught in a heavy wind in Utah. So they had parked in a rest stop in the only places they could find.. Their parked trucks had gotten blown over.. The "accidents" were ruled "preventable" -- and the drivers were fired..

The only accident I've ever heard of that was ruled "preventable" was back at Merit Distribution doing the SuperWalMart stuff. One of our drivers was up in Montana, on a little icy highway. A lady coming the opposite direction in a pickup truck pulling a utility trailer, loaded with sheet steel, lost control. She slid across the center lane, and hit him head on. The steel on the trailer slid forward, decapitated her -- and actually decapitated our driver as well! Talk about a totally freak accident.

Our safety man generously ruled that accident "unpreventable"...

[smokineagle]

I agree that a Professional driver is responsible for there actions. Many times an accident is classified no falt by the on scene officer. All that says is that in some states he cant affix falt without witnesses or seeing the accident.Prevetable or non-preventable is a little different. This a tool that is supposed to be used by a company and a driver to learn what to do in the future.
For an instance I had an accident in 1997 I was making a right turn into a plant. There was a truck waiting to come out and I had a green light with a car following me. I swung left being mindful not to leave enough room for the car to pass me on the right. The car jumped the curb and impacted my fuel tanks.
Instinct says that is not my fault and the officer that witnessed the accident agreed, but i could have prevented it by just waiting for the light to change and then the truck waiting to exit the plant would have proceeded and I could have turned right without swinging out left. This is what the company saftey director showed me. Now I drive with the attitude that evryone on the road will do the wtrong move at the right time to cause me to make an ajustment to my route of travel.
That was my only accident in 24 yrs driving and I will never make that mistake again.