Hey all,

I ran into my first real problem since I started trucking yesterday. I was about to go on hometime and had a load delivering in Philadelphia to get me home. I was to deliver a load to downtown Philadelphia. The directions given by the company sent me down a non truck route street and wanted me to make an impossible left turn. Once I saw the left turn I knew I couldn't make it and found a place to pullover about 2 blocks ahead. Once there I called the receiver and asked them for directions. They barely spoke english and gave me directions that were just as bad as the company directions. I tried their route to no avail as well and once again found myself pulled over trying to find a way into the receiver. I quickly looked on my laptop and brought up google maps and found a 3rd route. I headed down a street that was 2 lanes of traffic in each direction. The 2 northbound lanes had a railing in the middle seperating the two lanes, about 3 feet high. I was in the right lane because there was no way I could have made the right turn from the left lane and around the railing. I swung as wide as I could to the left without hitting the railing and began to make my wide right turn. About halfway into the turn I felt something tug on me and heard a scrape. I immediately stopped the truck and out on my 4 ways and tried to see what the problem was. There were people all around looking at me. I got out and looked behind me to see that the very bottom corner of my trailer bumper had just barely gotten hooked against a horizontal bar in the railing. It was now pulling on the railing. I attempted to back up slightly to see if I could get the bumper unhooked from the railing but to no avail. At this point a police officer showed up and I got out to talk to him about my problem. I explained the situation about how I'd been circling the area for about an hour now trying to get into my receiver. He stood in front of my tractor and watched as I tried to get it free. He then told me to just pull the railing out with me as it seemed like the only way I could get out of the way of traffic. I did and a portion of the railing came out of the ground. I then made the turn slowly with my 4 ways on and pulled over on the side of the street I turned on.

The officer asked for my license and truck registration. I gave it to him. After about 20 minutes of him holding my information he gave it back to me. He did not issue me a ticket and did not give me a report or anything back except my license and truck registration. The railing was owned/maintained by SEPTA (the major bus company that runs buses in Philadelphia). The cop told me a supervisor from Septa was coming out to look at the damage. We waited on him and he arrived. When he did he didn't take any of my information and simply told the cop he was having a maintenance truck come out to remove the portion of railing that I had taken out that was now on the sidewalk. I asked both the cop and the Septa supervisor what was going to happen to me and they both kind of gave me an "I don't know...it's ok." reaction. The Septa supervisor said "I'm not even taking any of your information down." I basically got the idea that what I did wasn't a big deal and was told that a truck takes out similar railing about once a month on that street.

I eventually got back in my truck and called my company to file what happened. I told them I was given no ticket and no report, but just wanted to let them know what happened in case someone called them. I wanted to cover my bases. I told them word for word what happened and how it happened.



Now, my question is, how does something like this affect my MVR, if at all? No one was injured, I feel I did everything right in reacting to the situation and the cop really didn't hand me any tickets, fines, or reports, but simply took my license and registration. Is there any way this can go on my MVR? I'm looking to find a new job once I get my full 2 years experience and really hope this won't affect an employer who looks at me. I pride myself on being safe more than any other aspect of my job and I've been really stressed/depressed since this happened yesterday. Any words of encouragement or helpful information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Don't sweat it. Rule of thumb is that if the insurance carrier isn't involved and there's no damage to the truck/trailer, then it's no skin off your back. The exception is if you work for a real low-ball outfit like CR England who will slam your DAC just so you'll have trouble finding work elsewhere and they can keep you under the thumb of some crack-the-whip, Captain Ahab dispatcher.

This is exactly why I drive local. I know the roads round here like the back of my hand - every tricky turn, low underpass, restricted route, etc. I know where the bears like to hide and when the scales are open.

 

Your company may put it on your DAC report, but I wouldn't think it would end up on your MVR.

 

Where i work they will slam your DAC in a heart beat.

Other companies would not even give it a second thought.

All depends on your company.

Good luck

(Let us know how it plays out if you will)

 

First off theres no reason at all as to why you hit that railing. Second accidents happen. Third you should have to go back to your main yard that your company runs and do some sort of safety evaluation. Don't worry about your MVR, you will never make this mistake again. I've been through all this but it was when I got hit when making a left turn.

A week after having my truck fixed from being hit, It was on Friday I just drove in from Atlanta, some 600 miles, took hardly any breaks. I got backed in to my spot on Hogans Earth City yard. Was lowering the landing gear when my truck gets rocked by a brand new driver 3rd day on the job! He said his mirror was out of adjustment and he was setting up to back in.

 

Is there any way this can go on your MVR? Yes.

The state of PA would have to one that keeps records of all accidents people are involved in and records them on their MVR's. If you have an out of state CDL (state other than PA) then your home state would also have to do the same things, assuming that PA would forwarded the information to your home state.

Or, upon further review the city decided to issue you a citation and you are convicted of the offense.

Now just for the record this is a PREVENTABLE ACCIDENT and should be listed as such on your future applications for as long as it falls within the time frame asked for so be sure to write down the date and a brief description of what happened in your person notes so you do not have it come back and bite you if/when you try for a driving job at another company. Your current company will most likely list it as such in your employment folder.

 

No it won't. There was no police report or citation issued.

First find out if they put anything on your DAC. You have the legal right to review your DAC and also to dispute any information posted to it. Kind of like Ebay.

If there's nothing listed, then don't mention it on a future app. $hit happens...no harm, no foul. If there's no money involved, then many companies won't even list it. It all depends on who you pull for.

 

Thanks for the help...I plan on running getting my MVR run in a month and I'll check my DAC as well. Like I said, I pride myself on safety every day on the road and this was really a pretty unlucky thing to happen to me and I would hate to have it affect my plans to find a better company to work for when I hit my 2 year mark. By the way, I run for JB Hunt currently...not sure how bad they are about the DAC thing, we'll see I guess.


As a side note...I grew up in Philadelphia and have lived there for 26 years and I gotta say, I have no more respect for any driver than I do for one who drives Philadelphia for a living. Everywhere you turn there's a low bridge or a non truck route. It's insane. I never realized how bad it was til I hit the road for a year and a half and then tried to deliver a load here. So kudos to those guys who run this crazy city for a living. I'd sooner be an ice road trucker.

 

Don't sweat it, lot of agencys look at this as normal OP. Just this week I was routed up I-55 outa Memphis headed to pick up I-70. Ar Dot routed me off 55 thru some real podunk towns. Finaly came to the state route I was supposed to use to get back to 55, looked at it and said "No way I can make that turn". Sign at the corner was already at an angle where someone else got it and rear escort is saying "There is a Ar Trooper in the line of traffic behind us" So just said to hell with it and went around. Took out the sign and as the island it was on was 8 inches and my clearance was about 3 inches leveled it off nicely Figured I had better stop and sure enough here comes the troop. Rolled down his window and said "Duno why DOT sends you guys this way. I'll call to get it fixed. You made it easier for whatever is behind you. Have a good day".

 

Think that's bad? I've got a friend who's a bicycle messenger in downtown Philadelphia.