[Will Pacala]

Ok thanks, just was wondering. How was the rest of the truck??

[jwholden]

I think this is one of those situations where experience made the difference. A course on defensive driving, given by you for 1/2 hour at a company meeting, would help. You could cover how to react in emergency situations - no brakes, fire in the truck, flat tire while going 50 mph, what to do if you get in an accident, etc. Whatever is important to you.

You were raised around cars and mechanical things and hitting the E-brake is a reflex action, for you. Pablo may not have spent his life around mechanical things and frankly the first time anyone is in that situation they would get pretty tense.

When I was just out of school the boss wanted me to take a Super Duty down I95 to make a delivery. My training was to give me the keys to the truck and let me go practice for an hour, unsupervised. That drive would be a cake walk for anyone here but at that point in my life I was VERY nervous about it. If the brakes went on me or heaven forbid I came to a stoplight on a steep hill I would have been screwed.

Everyone is going to react differently to the same situation.

Final sad note.

A local hardware store sent a high school kid to make a delivery with their van. The kid was getting on an entrance ramp and hit the gas to get through a yellow light. He went head on with an oncoming car and killed someone.

That poor kid has to live with that the rest of his life and someone is missing a member of their family. Slow down, it's better to take an extra five minutes than lose the time getting pulled over for a ticket, getting in an accident, or getting killed.

Ok, I'm off my soap box now.

[Stonehenge]

I helped pay my way through college by delivering Domino's pizza, back when they still had the 30 minutes guarantee....And I was the 'go to' guy, delivering all the 'almost late' pizzas in my manual transmission, 4 cylinder 1979 Ford Fairmont. Where I went to school there are also tons of hills. Mid winter I was driving down a steep hill, delivering a pizza, hit the brakes and there was nothing. A quick survey and I saw that I had about another 100 feet before I would cross an intersection, then a small parking deck, then about a 30' drop into downtown.... The one thing I always loved about delivering pizzas in winter was that the snow banks on the sides of the road were always soft.... So that's where I parked it. Turned out one of the brake lines had cracked.

That was pretty nerve wracking, but I never learned as much about driving as I did delivering pizzas in that little college town.

I can understand continuing to drive the truck - with the shop close by. Once we dislodged my car from that snowbank, I drove it to a friends house to get the brake line fixed. Just used the gears to slow me down, parking brake to stop.

[Stonehenge]

JW - that is a sad story. There's a kid in town here that works for a tree spading company that rolled one of their trucks into a ditch after an accident a couple years ago, but just a couple weeks ago he crossed the center line and ended up killing 3 people in 2 different vehicles. Part of the tree spade practically split an oncoming pickup truck down the middle - the driver of that pickup was killed immediately.

[Tim]

Well I will stick my 2 cents in. I place myself in the same situation.. being sick, panicked, and in a large truck without breaks, and I have to wonder if I too would make the wrong choice. In retrospect, I think everyone would know what to do, but at the critical point, many of us are no better than children. I would probably commend the employee for missing the "bump in the Road". I would also express advise of what to do in the future. Since he is a valued employee, and usually has his head up, I don't recommend any derogatory remarks or actions toward him. Be thankful that such a lesson comes at as low of a price as it did. It could have been waaaaaaayyyyy worse!! Tim

[Will Pacala]

Wow thats really one sad story Stone. I would imagine that worker was fired, maybe even some fines and kailtime. What was he drunk or something???

[Lawn Lad]

I would definetly conduct inhouse training for the benefit of all employees, using this example as a good learning lesson. Commend the driver in public for not causing an accident. And then talk about other alternatives. By commending the driver in public for not causing an accident which potentially could have been disasterous, you will help to alleviate any guilt he may be feeling about damaging your vehicle. As already stated, there should not be any consequences for this driver. If this was a habitual problem it would be your fault for letting him continuing to drive your trucks.

As for training, I'd vote for a commercial driving type class. The defensive driving course at the speedway, albeit fun, would most likely not be the best option. I'd save it for the wife/kids, etc. I don't think you'd want to send the wrong message to the employee about driving your trucks while sitting in a car on a "race" course whether they're in race cars or not. I would think a truck/trailer type driving school would be in good order. And would cover the material that is more related to what you're dealing with than would a passenger car driving course.

[Bill Schwab]

Follow up to the accident:

Ok, so, definitely, training is a must, no matter what course we choose. Yesterday, my wife and I took a day up in Long Beach, saw a speaker named Niurka who used to work with Tony Robbins, both are motivational for sales and management. We leave at 5, and, the driver who got in the wreck calls on the nextel, saying he is scared to drive that truck. So, I sent him home, as I was 2 hours away, and, on this day, if he did not choose to drive, there was nothing for him to do, as he had to run block up to a wall job in San Marcos, then wiork with the crew.
Initially, I was pretty upset. Then, as the day progressed into the night, andf turned dawn, (it is about 5 right now) I calmed down, thought about the whole situation, and decided to retrain and rebuild his confidence. I remember the first boat crash I had. I was 7, got snuffed into a buoy at about 40 mph which was fast for a little kid. I did niot want to get back in the boat, but dad and grandpa worked with me for a while, and within a month I was driving confidently again.

So, time to get this guy back into the truck and coax him along. If he still shows signs of skidishness, I am going to have to let him go, cause if he won't drive what is there to drive, he is worthless to this company.

I think we will get past this, and I am hoping he will be open about it, at this time, I am just considering all that may or may not need be done.

Oh yeah, when I took off that old master cylinder, the weirdest thing...I have never seen this before...The rubber plunger inside that pushes the fluid every time you hit the petal pushed its way around the plunger, and, ripped so that when you hit the brake, all the fluid just sits there and applies no pressure to the calipers.

I saved this, to show my insurance company.

[agla]

You said that the driver was sent home because he was not feeling well. He was not at 100%. In that case he may not be as quick to make good judgements which seems to be the issue you have with him. You used your judgement to let him drive.

I don't know about every part of the country, but in my area we are not attracting the sharpest knives in the drawer for labor. It might be reaching to expect some of them to have the same quick judgement that you would. Hitting a pole vs. a van load of kids was not the worst judgement.

What would you think if he blew the transmission to stop it, but had no van load of kids story? That might not have looked so brilliant especially if it did not go into gear and he hit the van. Then you might ask why the idiot did not just swerve into a pole.

20/20 hind sight.

[Bill Schwab]

Agla:

I hear what you are saying...In this part of the country, we have lining street corners waiting for people to hire them and go to work. Most are from Guatamla, or Mexico. Most of them know a bit about something, and at leatI can say for our guys, the one who knows a bit about ceratin things usually teachs the others thier nitche, thus, rounding the work talents.

And, you are right, no one thinks as I or for that matter anyone else does. Far as blowing a tranny, I come from the school that doing anything mechanically is far better than an accident. That being said, after tasking him out for a whole today, I came to realize that along with numerous cultural differences, and driving after an accident is almost like a superstition to those guys. It is going to be a slow road to recovery here, and I am confident that if he applies himself, he can get past this and we both can grow together.
I think the key to really being able to manage your company is also being able to see where the employees limitations are and either helping them work past that, or finding someone else who can. Pablo will be fine in time. This was just a part of the journey. A lesson learned. Along with tailgate safety meetings once a week, we need to add some drivers skills in for those who drive the vehicles.

No one hurt was the biggest blessing.

[Will Pacala]

That's always good. I wonder if any states or towns offer defensive/safety driving.