TalkCDL is focused on providing entertainment for our fellow truckers! We cover everything in the trucking industry from current trucking laws, trucker surveys, and any other trucking news we dig up or a trucker throws our way.Read more »
TalkCDL is focused on providing entertainment for our fellow truckers! We cover everything in the trucking industry from current trucking laws, trucker surveys, and any other trucking news we dig up or a trucker throws our way.Read Less
After an Accident - Truckers BewareAfter an Accident there are some steps to take as a professional truck driver. You should know first and foremost that there are rules that are set against you. If the accident is a DOT recordable, you will be required to submit to a drug screen. You will have a very short window to provide a sample. If youre are not cooperative and impairment is suspected, you will be giving your sample while in hand cuffs and it will most likely be from blood. A DOT recordable accident is when death, Injury or the towing of a vehicle is involved. Whether it is your fault or not you must take this very serious. Cell Phones After an Accident you should know that there is a good chance that police will want ton check on your activities you were a part of while driving. They will want to see if you were on your cell phone. Any hand held device is not permitted to be in possession of a semi truck driver while in motion. Law enforcement will be looking to see if there were any texts sent out during the time of the accident. If they spot other sent texts while searching for the accident time period you could be ticketed and fined for that also. Make no mistakes about this, law enforcement does not pay around when it comes to a serious accident. If you have destroyed your phone or his it form them, don't worry, they can subpoena your phone provider and request all of your records and activities for that time and date. You should know that these days it is hard to do something on the internet without making a footprint. Most services automatically store records on the cloud. We are being watched 24/7 these days. Best bet is to not have your cell phone with in reach of your hands at all. Most cell phone have voice command. If you don't understand how to use your voice command just go to youtube like the rest of us do and watch the tutorial. A few Tips If you have been in a wreck try doing the following. First off make sure of your surroundings before exiting your vehicle. Gather your thoughts and think, this will help you make a clear decision. Make sure that traffic is aware of your situation and watch for vehicles traveling near the scene. While outside of your vehicle keep an eye on all things. Never apologize for the accident to the other party. There are many cases where a driver thought they might have been at fault only to find out the evidence points to the other party. Admitting or apologizing can and will create confusion. Take pictures of the scene. Take lots of pictures. Offer help if you can do it safely. Make sure you call your company as soon s you can and speak to your safety director. If you are injured or you have a small pain, make sure you get checked out. Some states require you report an injury with in a small window. If you don't sport an injury and later discover one, you will have a harder time proving it came from the accident.https://www.rothlawyer.com/truck-accident-guide TalkCDL trucking Podcast http://talkcdl.com/five-trucking-trends-shaping-2019/http://talkcdl.com/avoiding-aggressive-drivers-talkcdl/http://talkcdl.com/weekly-wrap-6-10-2018-all-news-all-trucking-talkcdl/