I hit a dog today

[iruhnman630]

Residential street, dog bolted out to chase the car. By the time I hit the brakes, he was already under my rear wheels.

I know there was nothing I could've done to stop in time, given how quickly he ran out. But I'm not real optimistic my managers are going to agree. Avoidable number 4 in ?? 7 ?? years. Nothing serious, and the only real accident I had was a young driver slid and bumped my truck in the snow. Fault was no question in that one, but it was still avoidable.

Basically, I'm screwed. And I didn't help myself any when I couldn't rattle off the key phrases to the five seeing habits.

 

[rocket man]

Residential street, dog bolted out to chase the car. By the time I hit the brakes, he was already under my rear wheels.

I know there was nothing I could've done to stop in time, given how quickly he ran out. But I'm not real optimistic my managers are going to agree. Avoidable number 4 in ?? 7 ?? years. Nothing serious, and the only real accident I had was a young driver slid and bumped my truck in the snow. Fault was no question in that one, but it was still avoidable.

Basically, I'm screwed. And I didn't help myself any when I couldn't rattle off the key phrases to the five seeing habits.

 

[Cementups]

 

[swing_drv]

If it was on the street ! Then you have nothing to worry about, that's why they have leash laws. If it was in a driveway your screwed!

 

[Sick of Intimidation]

Residential street, dog bolted out to chase the car. By the time I hit the brakes, he was already under my rear wheels.

I know there was nothing I could've done to stop in time, given how quickly he ran out. But I'm not real optimistic my managers are going to agree. Avoidable number 4 in ?? 7 ?? years. Nothing serious, and the only real accident I had was a young driver slid and bumped my truck in the snow. Fault was no question in that one, but it was still avoidable.

Basically, I'm screwed. And I didn't help myself any when I couldn't rattle off the key phrases to the five seeing habits.

I take it you were driving down the street and not on the dog owners property? I've never heard of an avoidable accident for hitting a dog on a public road or street. Only had a co-worker get an avoidable for running over a dog on the dog owners property. Are you saying you've had possibly 4 avoidables in possibly 7 years? If so, i'd say you don't have much at all to worry about. I had a co-worker get fired for 3 avoidables in a 9 month period, but that's way worse than your record. We tried to tell him he needed glasses, but no, he wasn't listening to anybody.

 

[iruhnman630]

If it was on the street ! Then you have nothing to worry about, that's why they have leash laws. If it was in a driveway your screwed!

Yup. He made a beeline for the rear wheels.

 

[bumped]

Nice working with ya

 

[Sick of Intimidation]

Nice working with ya

Now why would you say that, ****? Our rule of thumb is 3 avoidables in a 9 month period before you are sent packing.

 

[bumped]

Now why would you say that, *****? Our rule of thumb is 3 avoidables in a 9 month period before you are sent packing.

Its a different UPS. The rule of thumb is management will do what they want when they want. If they like you the'll keep you around. If not, they'll try to get rid of you and make you beg for your job back.

 

[iruhnman630]

Are you saying you've had possibly 4 avoidables in possibly 7 years? If so, i'd say you don't have much at all to worry about.

The possibly was about the time frame. The years have sort of blended together and I've lost track. The point being I have a record which looks far worse than it is.

#1 - The accident I mentioned. I was stunned when that was ruled avoidable. With the committee and stewards I work with now, that likely would've been fought and ruled unavoidable.

#2 - After pulling off a dock I noticed the bumper was bent. To this day I don't understand how I could've bent it, but I reported it anyway, fearing being accused of not reporting an accident.

#3 - Hit a pole. In the building. Yup, that one was stupid. No argument there.

#4 - Got stuck, tore up some turf. Oct 2007, the last one.

That's 2 clear avoidables, 2 which are questionable.

 

[Bubblehead]

Residential street, dog bolted out to chase the car. By the time I hit the brakes, he was already under my rear wheels.

I know there was nothing I could've done to stop in time, given how quickly he ran out. But I'm not real optimistic my managers are going to agree. Avoidable number 4 in ?? 7 ?? years. Nothing serious, and the only real accident I had was a young driver slid and bumped my truck in the snow. Fault was no question in that one, but it was still avoidable.

Basically, I'm screwed. And I didn't help myself any when I couldn't rattle off the key phrases to the five seeing habits.

You will be fine.
Anybody want to bet that he gets no more than a warning letter?

 

[Bubblehead]

Nice working with ya

Its a different UPS. The rule of thumb is management will do what they want when they want. If they like you the'll keep you around. If not, they'll try to get rid of you and make you beg for your job back.

How about you Big Mouth, you want to bet?

 

[iruhnman630]

Not a dog lover I assume

 

[Bubblehead]

Nice working with ya

Its a different UPS. The rule of thumb is management will do what they want when they want. If they like you the'll keep you around. If not, they'll try to get rid of you and make you beg for your job back.

Dude, you better get to bed.
You'll want to be fresh when you heckle the kids as they get on the short bus tomorrow morning.

 

[DS]

I disagree bubblehead, this dude is being oppressed as is probobly his whole center,
just because its sweet where you are, does not make it universal.Management can be really cruel.

 

[bigbrownhen]

Rule of thumb has always been if it was in the street or road, then its is unavoidable. Now there have been rumors of drivers being charged with avoidable, but I don't know of any such cases personally. There was a PCM about it a few years back. What do they want us to do, swerve and run off in the ditch, now that would be an avoidable accident for sure. Sometime you just can't win.

To the OP, I wish you luck. I am afraid it will boil down to your current relationship with your management team and how good your steward is. Best of luck to you in this situation.

 

[toonertoo]

You will be fine. I think some guys here are taking out their rage on you. Hitting a dog is devastating, especially if you love animals. I killed a rottie a few years back, and I cried for days. Was never charged as anything. I was in the middle of the road with my winter ups coat on the dog, when someone finally found the owner. She was shivering, and it was like 7 degrees, and she got stuck in my duallies, so I knew she was done. But she was so big, no one could move her. I know someone has a gun, just shoot her. Poor thing, tragic.

 

[Sick of Intimidation]

You will be fine. I think some guys here are taking out their rage on you. Hitting a dog is devastating, especially if you love animals. I killed a rottie a few years back, and I cried for days. Was never charged as anything. I was in the middle of the road with my winter ups coat on the dog, when someone finally found the owner. She was shivering, and it was like 7 degrees, and she got stuck in my duallies, so I knew she was done. But she was so big, no one could move her. I know someone has a gun, just shoot her. Poor thing, tragic.

I witnessed a dog get run over by a car during the dead of winter a few years back. The temperature was in the single digits and supposed to get down to well below 0 for the night. I picked her up and carried her to a nearby field, removing my UPS winter jacket, and wrapped her up in it the best I could. Didn't feel the vet who lived 3 miles away could do anything for her so I tracked down a friend with a pistol to come put her out of her misery. I couldn't imagine leaving that dog to die in sub-freezing temps. The friend fired a close range shot and it was like she just went to sleep immediately all but a few nerves firing. I balled like a little girl all the way back to the center.

 

[Magnus]

Sorry to hear this, for your sake and well as the dog’s. All you can do is tell them exactly what happened and keep your story straight.


Bottom line, though (and something you should make a point to mention as often as you can when defending your case to management – if they should decide to make it a huge, blown up issue) is that it is the responsibility of the dog’s owners to keep the dog secured at all times.


Liability is not with you if the dog was not properly secured and therefore allowed to bolt out into the street (and also, as it sounds, unsupervised by its owners to boot). In fact, many States, Counties and City Districts make it ILLEGAL for owners to be careless with their dogs, as in allowing them free reign on the streets for just such reasons.


Crap happens, and there are leash and tether laws for a reason… not just for the safety of others, but for the safety of the dog itself.


Rest easy, it wasn’t your fault – you said it yourself, there was nothing you could have done.

Good luck, nonetheless.

 

[Bubblehead]

I disagree bubblehead, this dude is being oppressed as is probobly his whole center,
just because its sweet where you are, does not make it universal.Management can be really cruel.

I'm not saying they won't act like idiots about it.
I'm saying his job is not in jeopardy as he fears.
I'm also saying that Bumped is an insensitive people to hit an man while he's down in a situation like this.