the witness said they thought he was going 70 or more, that doesnt mean he was

 

Yes, it said "Driver Mentor"

 

well, if one of them was training, NO ONE should have been in the sleeper., another example of a trainer using a trainee as an extra log book

 

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This is so common to try and single out Swift is ludicrous. The "trainers" are not using the students and an extra log book.

 

if this guy was training, no one should have been sleeping, it has nothing to do with singling out swift.. it has to do with a trainer not doing his job!! trainee should be driving or sitting in passenger seat, driver and trainer are supposed to sleep at the same time.. while the truck is stopped.. and how do you know what the trainers are doing? have you ridden with them? or do you just know everything?

 

I seem to recall a Wile E Mile in a swift trainer truck.

New drivers should know, what is going to happen to the driver of the truck. Business practices aside the driver is held responsible at the end of the day for both the wreck and the fatality. Things to think about when getting behind the wheel of an 80,000lb rig. One day you are a Big Rig truck driver then your life could forever be changed. Food for thought.

 

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This is so common to try and single out Swift is ludicrous. The "trainers" are not using the students and an extra log book.


I agree, BUT that is not reality..

According to the MAJORITY of the training fleets this how the trainers are supposed to be doing their job. There are VERY few training companies that will even ALLOW their trainers to train properly.. let alone train the trainers properly.

AND drivers are supposed to get proper rest, AND drivers are supposed to obey the speed limits AND....... ? You are living in a fantasy world if you think that the majority of people are trained like you want them to be.
Ive been an instructor and trainer for most of my career.. and I was actually relieved from training for refusing to team with students.. and this was not for Swift. This story is yet another hit piece on Swift. The things that you complain about should be the law, they are not, they are commonplace. I would go one step further and make the training of students by lease operators illegal.

 

Having recently done a stint with Swift, I can tell you that during the 6 week training period, the mentor and student are supposed to run as a solo driver (no more than 11 hours per day) for the first two weeks.
Third and fourth week are "solo + 1/2" which translates into 16.5 hours per day maximum.
Fifth and sixth week, the mentor and student are running as a full team....

Personally, my trainer had us running as a team from day 3 which included coming down whatever pass that is on the west side of the Eisenhower tunnel outside of Denver on I-70 (Loveland Pass perhaps) and Cajon Pass. Great experience for someone with less that 1k miles under his belt and a trainer sleeping in the back.

 

This story, which I posted, has absolutely NOTHING to do with hitting on Swift. I pointed that out because I knew folks would be curious and might know some of their drivers.

My point in posting this was it was a very sad story that impacted people's lives...someone is not going home today and the company, the driver of the truck, and the victim's family all had a loss that will take time to recover from...they may never.

I originally posted this on the forum for new drivers because whatever the case, the driver wasn't driving for conditions. Here in San Diego we get very little rain and the roads are super slick when it first rains. No load and no company is worth losing a life over. Regardless of what you think, it's a sad day and shows what can happen if you don't value and respect the weight and power of what you drive.

Keep YOUR wheels turning safely...

 

AND the point that I was making is that this is COMMON with practically ALL the major training carriers.