DAC? Discouraged...help/advice?

[goodfella_ray]

Hey all, new here. I'm 24 years old, have 13 months of OTR experience. Been reading up on these forums about the DAC report thing, and I gotta say, it has me pretty freakin discouraged. I applied at a couple of jobs already, but now I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever drive again. I'm looking for some advice, maybe some help, or just some words of motivation. I'm sorry if this post is long, but I guess you have to read it to fully understand my situation.

I used to drive for a certain company, which I'll keep unnamed for now, but in February of 2008, was terminated due to some pictures I had on my myspace account of an accident that had occurred back in July of 2007. Not only that, I had a couple of videos on youtube that I had filmed with a hand-held digital camera while driving through various states. The videos were nothing more than just the beautiful scenery surrounding me. Anyway, my company wasn't too happy about it all, which resulted in my termination.

Now, the accident, I'm not sure what you'd label it as. But I was heading down NB 99 here in Ceres, CA. I wanted to get around a vehicle that was going slower than I was. I was doing no more than 58. I checked my mirrors, and felt it was safe to start merging. I felt I had enough cushion space between me and this white pick up that was in the lane I wanted to merge into. So I hit my signal, and I started to merge. As I'm merging, I notice this white pick up gaining on me REAL quick. I'm nearly completely in the lane, still checking my mirrors, and the vehicle was going much faster than I had anticipated. I start to wonder, and keep in mind, this happened ALL SO QUICK, and think to myself that this guy's gonna rear end me!

Well, right before I think he's gonna hit, he swerves erratically to his left. He leaves my mirror, loses control of his vehicle, comes allll the way around to the front of me and SLAMS into my left steer tire. He hit me so hard, that it knocked the alignment out about a 180 degrees. This is what the shop guys told me, but anyway, I lose control of my truck, and it swerves hard to the right. I end up going off the soulder, down a small slope. I tried to avoid going through a fence and onto some surface streets, and, I guess with the weight and shift of my load, it resulted in the truck rolling over on the passenger side. Now, I'm not sure what you guys would label that as. Preventable? Non preventable? I don't know. I just know I held on for dear life and did what I could. But I was not terminated for that. I was terminated 6 months later because of the photos my company had found on my myspace account. I'm not even sure why they were searching for that kind of stuff.

I had two write ups with my company as well. One for a service failure that I received, and another for "hitting" a fence while parking my trailer, a fence that had been hit numerous times before. I think they were only able to pin it on me due to how close the trailer was. I also have two tickets. One for not having my medical card in possession (doh), which I was in my company vehicle, and another for an "unsafe lane change", which I received in my PERSONAL vehicle. A cop gave it to me because I didn't use my turn signal. It's a moving violation, and now I have a point on my record. However, the accident I mentioned above is NOT on my record. Well, I've applied to a couple of companies already. One turned me down for reasons they couldn't tell me, and another I never heard back from. I came here to see what people had to say about various companies, and I stumbled upon the Rules, DAC, etc forum. And I'm now I'm starting to worry.

I'm not sure if the company I was driving for has everything I mentioned above listed on my DAC? I wonder, does my previous company even report to DAC? And then there's my two tickets too. I applied for Knight a couple of weeks ago and was gonna call to check up on the status, and now I don't even want to. A lot of what I've read here has seriously brought me down. I feel so discouraged to even apply at anymore companies. I'm afraid that when they do all this background check, they're gonna find all that info and deny me. It's like, should I even try anymore? I love driving, it's my passion, and I wanna keep doing it, but dammit...I feel like I seriously screwed up any chance I had while working for my previous company. I'm currently employed at a truck and trailer repair shop, but that's not cutting it, and I seriously wanna get back into driving so bad.

Given the certain circumstances, what do you guys think? Am I screwed for a good while? Or may I still have a chance with certain companies? I don't know anymore.

[grasshogtoadstool]

Hey goodfella_ray, I think I know how you feel. The company I drove for for 8 years went belly-up and I'm looking too. I've had 3 recent speeding tickets and was cited for not having a medical card and have applied to a dozen companies so far with no luck. All I can say is keep trying and be open and honest about all your past troubles. Better they find out from you than from a DAC report.

As far as the DAC, I'm just learning about this myself ( I guess I really do live in a cave! ) You can go to the website usis.com/consumer and download a form to request a free copy of your report. That way at least you can see what employers will see. Also, anytime USIS sends a report to a company, they send you one as well.

I hope this helps. Keep at it and hopefully I will see you out there sometime.

[Rawlco]

First you need to get a copy of your DAC report and see what is on there.

Second whenever you apply somewhere do not leave anything out that appears on your DAC report. Companies see that as dishonest on your part and will send your app straight to the circular file.

Third consider your options for a non driving job. The way I see it you have two strikes against you in the lane change department. With the ticket in your personal vehicle and the possibly unsafe lane change resulting in a rollover accident if you ever have another lane change accident the company that hires you will be wide open for a lawsuit on the grounds that you are an unsafe driver. I will bet that insurance companies will not touch you for several years at least until that point comes off your MVR, but that is just a guess on my part.

Fourth keep trying. Do not assume anything. Some company may take you. Beat the bushes before giving up. There are many many trucking companies around. Good luck.

[Rev.Vassago]

I doubt the Myspace and YouTube stuff really has much of anything to do with it. IMHO, the company, if they actually told you this, used it as an excuse to terminate what they perceived to be a habitual problem. Whether or not you actually are, I'm not going to get into.

Given the current state of the industry, I think the major reason you are having such difficulty finding work is because of the glut of drivers in the industry. There is no shortage of truck drivers. There is, however, a shortage of trucking jobs. This leaves the jobs going to the more qualified applicants, which unfortunately, you are not one of.

If you are dead set on staying in the industry, you need to first get a copy of your DAC, as stated earlier. If this information is on there as you have presented it here, your best bet is to start looking at very small companies who don't use DAC, most of which aren't the greatest places to work. You still need to be honest when applying, however, about the accident and citations.

Beyond that, you can always try to get a job in another line of work, and come back to trucking later (after a refresher course) when your accident and ticket record is older.

[GMAN]

Your first stop should be DAC, as the others have suggested. A improper lane change is pretty serious, as is a roll over, regardless of who was at fault. It depends on how it was reported and what is on your MVR. You may also want to get a copy of your MVR to see if anything else is on there you may have forgotten. After 3 years have passed, it may be easier to find a driving job. There are a lot of carriers around. Someone may give you another opportunity.

[Uturn2001]

I concur that you need to get copies of your DAC as well as your MVR and see what is listed on there.

I disagree though that your camcorder use is not an issue. While it would probably not cause you to get fired, or keep you from being hired (assuming it is listed as a safey violation on your DAC) by itself, it along with your accident and improper lane use conviction shows a pattern of less than safe driving behavior.

I also concur that those with less than perfect driving records are going to have a harder time now than in past years finding employment due to flood of drivers looking for work due to so many carriers shutting down.

[goodfella_ray]

Dammit. It's a hard thing for me to admit that I probably won't be driving again anytime soon. I have nobody to blame but myself, I guess. I was so ****ing happy driving, and knowing that my chances are pretty much slim to none...it just kind of hurts inside.

Do you guys think local companies, such as gravel, dirt or cement/concrete haulers, i.e, transfers, bottom dumps, mixers, check for or use DAC? Even if they don't report on it, can they still look one up on a driver? I'm wondering if a company like that is my last hope for now. There's a couple here in my city.

I'm gonna have to send off for my DAC report though to see what's up. I really appreciate the help and feedback from you guys. I'm a little more in-the-know, and it's important to be in-the-know in this industry. Thanks again!

[Uturn2001]

It does not matter if a company uses DAC to perform background checks or not. All companies are required by law to do a background check and share safety information about drivers upon request.

[goodfella_ray]

It does not matter if a company uses DAC to perform background checks or not. All companies are required by law to do a background check and share safety information about drivers upon request.

I'm not asking if a company uses the DAC report to perform a background check, I want to know if a SMALL TIME COMPANY can have ACCESS to one? I mean, because I have a DAC report on me, does it mean it's going to be automatically checked? Or is it an option for companies, specifically small ones like CVT, a dirt hauling/concrete mixer company? I know companies are required to perform background checks, but I'd like to know the likely of a small time company using it, IF they can?

Just seems like the DAC report is killing drivers, considering it can have **** on there that'd damn well keep you from having a job. I read on here, that somebody who drove for Arrow had an accident where he hit, or rubbed, another truck in the yard, and that Arrow had it reported, thus, preventing him from being hired onto another job.

[Uturn2001]

ust seems like the DAC report is killing drivers, considering it can have $&!+ on there that'd damn well keep you from having a job. I read on here, that somebody who drove for Arrow had an accident where he hit, or rubbed, another truck in the yard, and that Arrow had it reported, thus, preventing him from being hired onto another job.

How is it DAC's fault that a driver who was in an accident has a hard time finding a job?

While occasionally DAC may mess up and list someone's else's safety and employment information in another person's file, they only put in there what they are told to by the company a driver who works or has worked there tells them to put there.

The same information may, and should be, given out when a prospective employer calls your employers for the past 3-10 years to verify your work and safety record.

People like to blame DAC for their woes, but the truth is that 95% of the time the info listed in the report is accurate and factual and it is/was the driver's own screw ups that is keeping him/her from working somewhere else. People just don't want to take responsiblitly for themselves any more. It is so much easier to blame everyone else.

To answer your last question, any company, regardless of size, can hire DAC to perform a background check on an applicant. Small companies usually don't as they don't have that many applications to process and it is not worth the money for them to hire it out.