how can we be charged with an accident?

[dilligaf]

This thread is kind of cute,like listening to teenagers talk about their first kiss. Wow!,backing up a straight chassis vehicle. When you guys get some experience maybe us real drivers will show you how to do it with 53' of trailer behind you.

Ah come cache, backing a 53' is easy. If you want a challenge back up a set.

 

[dilligaf]

Even backing a pup is marginally more difficult than a 53'.

 

[cachsux]

Backing a long box is easy, I want to learn how to back doubles.

Pretend the front box and dolly aren`t there when making small steering corrections.

 

[Hangingon]

Think of the time I could save if I could just back the set onto the door and break it down there... Oops, hope no one from IE sees this.

 

[cachsux]

Even backing a pup is marginally more difficult than a 53'.

A pup can be swung around in the same space as a package car,with a long box you`ll need far more room to turn it around. All joking aside,the big rule is never get into a situation you`ll have to back out of.

 

[backinbrown]

A pup can be swung around in the same space as a package car,with a long box you`ll need far more room to turn it around. All joking aside,the big rule is never get into a situation you`ll have to back out of.

expect the unexpected

 

[dilligaf]

A pup can be swung around in the same space as a package car,with a long box you`ll need far more room to turn it around. All joking aside,the big rule is never get into a situation you`ll have to back out of.

Ya, I know even put quite a few miles in a tractor trailer.

 

[soberups]

In todays world as fanatical as we have become about accidents you're better off walking it or will calling it.

If I followed this logic then not only would half of my route get will-called, but I would be dead of a heart attack 3/4 of a mile up a snow-covered gravel road at 10:00 at night. At some point we just need to grow a pair of balls, provide the customer with the service they are paying for, and every once in a while accept the fact that a $4 mirror might get cracked in the process.

 

[soberups]

The bottom line is this;

UPS can "charge" you with an accident for farting if they so choose.

We do not have the contractual right to a safe driving award.

UPS does not have and never has had a consistent, reasonable and rational definition of what even consitutes an "accident" in the first place.

The fact that you have been "charged" with an "avoidable accident" does not mean that an accident actually occured or that you are an unsafe driver or that there is even any basis for disciplinary action.

A driver on a rural route who (a) cracks a mirror one day and then (b) makes tire marks in a muddy driveway another day and then (c) breaks an overhanging limb off of a tree on a dark night very well be "charged" with 3 "unavoidable accidents" for those actions but in all likelihood any disciplinary action taken against him will not be upheld at panel.

Unlike our supervisors, we as drivers actually have to go out there and work in the real world.

 

[soberups]

Today I recieved an 11 yr safe driving award.

I'm glad to get it, but it is due mainly to luck and whatever mood my sup happened to be in whenever I reported the various "incidents" that have occured throughout my career.

Broken mirrors? I break mirrors on branches all the time. This is Oregon...the trees are thick, the branches wet and heavy, and in the winter its pitch black at 4:30 up in the woods. Mirror gets cracked, report to sup, write up on DVIR. Mechanic comes out, sticks $4 replacement glass on mirror bracket. Problem solved!

Torn up driveways? I have driveways on my route that are mile long pothole-filled mud bogs. I get stuck all the time. I keep my own tow chain in the pkg car. I have been pulled out of mud pits by customers with tractors and had my bumper chewed up by the tow chain. Customer thanks me for making the effort. Report damage to sup, write up on DVIR. Mechanic comes out, splooges on some touch-up paint with a brush, and thanks me for saving UPS $200 on a tow truck. Problem solved!

Tearing up a customers lawn? I have left foot-deep ruts for 1/4 of a mile in a customers pasture because his kid left a broken down car in the middle of the driveway a mile from the road and I didnt want to back all the way down in the dark. I took the fence apart, drove thru the hole and across the pasture to customers house. Customer thanked me for making the effort to get him his package, apologized to me for the inconvenience, sent kid out to follow me in his 4x4 to put the fence back together and make sure I got out OK. Problem solved!

In my 21 years of driving I have never gotten a traffic or parking citation, either in a UPS or a personal vehicle. I have never been involved in a traffic accident. I have never caused an injury, and I have never damaged a UPS vehicle to the point where it was inoperable or required anything but touch-up paint or replacement mirror glass. I have had a handful of very minor "incidents", some of which were deemed avoidable accidents and some of which were not, for reasons which still remain a mystery to me.

I try not to worry about it. I drive safely, but in the real world **** happens. If I get a safe driving award, thats just swell. If I dont...oh well.

 

[tieguy]

I can hear the conversation now:

Driver: I brought back 3 stops today because Tieguy says we don't have to deliver to places with long driveways.

Sup or center manager: GET YOU friend%&$#($ ***** back out there and deliver the friend$^#$*^ packages like you are paid to do and DON"T EVER try that friend*&%$#& S&^% again.

Thats fine until you back down the guys driveway and accidentally run his bushs over. You then call the supervisor to give him the good news. He then has to fill out a ton of paperwork explaining why you backed down the driveway. He will have to call his dm and safety manager and report the accident. He will be asked every question under the sun including what you had for breakfast. He may have to get on a district conference call and explain how you had an accident and he the supervisor could not forsee it and somehow prevent it. And after its all said and done the guy will tell you to walk it or will call it.

 

[tieguy]

i would agree but i know they would give me a hard time if i brought back because driveway was too long, mayby i am wrong

If you face a driveway that long then you may have to call and put the decision in the sups hands.

 

[rod]

Thats fine until you back down the guys driveway and accidentally run his bushs over. You then call the supervisor to give him the good news. He then has to fill out a ton of paperwork explaining why you backed down the driveway. He will have to call his dm and safety manager and report the accident. He will be asked every question under the sun including what you had for breakfast. He may have to get on a district conference call and explain how you had an accident and he the supervisor could not forsee it and somehow prevent it. And after its all said and done the guy will tell you to walk it or will call it.

What's that sound I hear? Is that the sound of service flying out the door----AGAIN?

Ring- Ring

Center clerk: Hello- Is this Joe Public?

Joe Public: Yes it is

Center clerk: Come and get your package-your driveway is too long

Joe Public: WHAT KIND OF A friend&^$)P# DELIVERY COMPANY ARE YOU? I friend^%#@!* PAID FOR THAT &^%$ TO BE DELIVERED TO MY HOUSE.

I know all of my old sups and center manager's would of had my rear end in the office if I used "too long of a driveway" as an excuse. Any excuse was met with the infamous "JUST MAKE IT HAPPEN as they turned and walked away.

 

[soberups]

Thats fine until you back down the guys driveway and accidentally run his bushs over. You then call the supervisor to give him the good news. He then has to fill out a ton of paperwork explaining why you backed down the driveway. He will have to call his dm and safety manager and report the accident. He will be asked every question under the sun including what you had for breakfast. He may have to get on a district conference call and explain how you had an accident and he the supervisor could not forsee it and somehow prevent it. And after its all said and done the guy will tell you to walk it or will call it.

Then perhaps, as a company, we should find a way to start distinguishing "accidents" from "incidents" rather than lumping them both together and getting our panties in a knot over trivial stuff.

If you are involved in an accident with another vehicle and there is damage and injury involved, that is an accident.

If in the course of your duties you crack a mirror or make a tire mark on some grass, that is an "incident" that has nothing to do with whether or not you are doing your job safely.

Our job description involves driving large vehicles on private property. We need to do it safely, but we also need to provide our customers with the delivery service they are paying for, and in the real world sometimes that is going to involve touch up paint, replacement mirrors or a bit of work with a shovel.

 

[soberups]

If you face a driveway that long then you may have to call and put the decision in the sups hands.

Or maybe we pay the driver to be a professional, make good decisions, and do the best job he can.

 

[UPSNewbie]

That's good, Scratch. I was kinda rear-ended last summer. Some old lady jumped lanes behind me to make a left turn into a gas station. As she did that she clipped my passenger side rear bumper. She tried to tell the cop that I hit her. The cop and I both just chuckled and shook our heads.

About a month ago, I was in the right lane on a four-lane road when some genius woman turned right, while I was passing. My bumper caught on her bumper and sheared hers right off. Did nothing to my truck. Then she told me if I pay for it out of pocket, she won't call the cops. So I took out my phone and called them myself. Then she called when she saw what I was doing to report that I was making a fake call.

I've never seen a cop laugh so hard.

Then perhaps, as a company, we should find a way to start distinguishing "accidents" from "incidents" rather than lumping them both together and getting our panties in a knot over trivial stuff.

If you are involved in an accident with another vehicle and there is damage and injury involved, that is an accident.

If in the course of your duties you crack a mirror or make a tire mark on some grass, that is an "incident" that has nothing to do with whether or not you are doing your job safely.

Our job description involves driving large vehicles on private property. We need to do it safely, but we also need to provide our customers with the delivery service they are paying for, and in the real world sometimes that is going to involve touch up paint, replacement mirrors or a bit of work with a shovel.

To take from the movie Hot Fuzz, "accidents" should be called "collisions," because "accident" implies that no one was at fault. I think it would be beneficial for UPS to make this syntactical change.

 

[cachsux]

To take from the movie Hot Fuzz, "accidents" should be called "collisions," because "accident" implies that no one was at fault. I think it would be beneficial for UPS to make this syntactical change.

Already done,bud. At our lovely building they are all called crashes.

 

[dilligaf]

Then perhaps, as a company, we should find a way to start distinguishing "accidents" from "incidents" rather than lumping them both together and getting our panties in a knot over trivial stuff.

If you are involved in an accident with another vehicle and there is damage and injury involved, that is an accident.

If in the course of your duties you crack a mirror or make a tire mark on some grass, that is an "incident" that has nothing to do with whether or not you are doing your job safely.

Our job description involves driving large vehicles on private property. We need to do it safely, but we also need to provide our customers with the delivery service they are paying for, and in the real world sometimes that is going to involve touch up paint, replacement mirrors or a bit of work with a shovel.

I like your idea..............accident and incident. It's to bad the company wouldn't like it.

 

[dilligaf]

About a month ago, I was in the right lane on a four-lane road when some genius woman turned right, while I was passing. My bumper caught on her bumper and sheared hers right off. Did nothing to my truck. Then she told me if I pay for it out of pocket, she won't call the cops. So I took out my phone and called them myself. Then she called when she saw what I was doing to report that I was making a fake call.

I've never seen a cop laugh so hard.

Probably not half as hard as we are. Geez, it takes all kinds. I hope she got cited for it.



To take from the movie Hot Fuzz, "accidents" should be called "collisions," because "accident" implies that no one was at fault. I think it would be beneficial for UPS to make this syntactical change.

 

[UPSNewbie]

Oh she did. She was trying to tell me I needed to pay for it. So the cop took her bumper, stuck it in her back seat, and told her to get going.