Okay so events in my other thread I wrote about "Need some advice" have gotten even worse. The cop wrote me down as at fault saying I clipped her rear end while making a lane change, and wrote me a ticket for careless driving. Now I'm hiring an attourney to take care of the ticket. Assuming I can get it dropped how badly is this rear-end collision going to hurt my job prospects? Do I have to report the accident to my employer and if so will they fire me? The event in question involved my personal vehicle not company equipment. I have been with this carrier for nearly 18 months with no accidents or tickets. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

It may. The fact that it happened in a personal vehicle and not a CMV may help.

Yes.

That all depends upon your employer, and their insurance company.

 

Most of the larger carriers pull an annual mvr on each of their drivers. Whether you tell your employer about it or not they will find out about it when they pull your annual mvr and see any tickets or citations. As Rev stated, it depends on your company and their insurance company as to how much or if it will affect your job. It will help if you have an otherwise good record with your company.

 

if you DONT report and they find out, your chances of being fired increase dramatically

 

Well if you get the charges dropped there is nothing to hurt you.

You really only need to report convictions to your employer that happened in your POV. So hold off saying anything until you find out if you are convicted of the offense(s) for which you were cited.

 

^THIS. It virtually guarantees a firing.

 

01WS6 said:

Make SURE you know exactly how many charges you are getting. IF these two charges are separate, and depending on what statute they fall under, they COULD result in enough points to lose your license. If so, you will face a CDL suspension of at least 2 months. More on this below.

ALSO..... remember that a District Attorney CAN add charges above and beyond what the officer ticketed you for. See below.

ABSOLUTELY!! This is extremely important to fight this! (I would also discuss with him suing the b*tch, AND maybe the cop. Having a ticket made out before he talked to you???)

Take your little green book of regs to the attorney and make SURE he reads and understands reg 383.51 Disqualification of Drivers.

I assume you meant CAN'T get it dropped. If it is dropped, I would think it won't hurt you a bit.

You don't need to tell them NOW. Each year, you have to fill out a form listing all tickets and/or accidents. IF you are convicted, you will need to list it then. The only accident you must notify them immediately on, is one in your CMV.

There are STILL repercussions. Again...depending on what he wrote up. If you are charged with leaving the scene of an accident in a POV, you lose your CDL for 1 YEAR!

Another thing to consider is this. Even if you don't lose your CDL over THIS incident, IF you let it go on your MVR you will put yourself in danger of having ONE STRIKE down within 3 years. IOW.... something happens AGAIN within 3 years, and you could lose your CDL and job.

Good luck and keep us posted.

P.S. I forgot to mention. IF they believe you rear ended the lady, that could be reckless driving AND "following too closely." ALL of these that you and I have mentioned, are considered MAJOR violations. You cannot afford to have ANY major violations on your MVR if you want to continue being a CDL holder for very long.

 

Where I work there are two things that will get you canned on the spot without question.

1) Not reporting an accident

2) and rear end collision

 

Its amazing how strict and tight the standards have become for the driving jobs..

 

Agreed. Golfhobo's advice of not telling the employer immediately could very well weigh in their decision to keep or fire you in the future. You are, in my opinion, better off being up front with it, rather than hiding it and biding your time.