Although there are many details in this incident, I will do my best to summerize to keep it short:
I was on my way in the company's service vehicle to meet one of the company's trucks for a roadside repair.in route to the location of the designated meeting place, I was envolved in an accident where a lady failed to yield the right away and hit me in the service vehicle.
Short details of the accident:
I was sitting at a red light (with two vehicles in front of me) to make a left onto a major highway that runs through Hattiesburg. Once we were given the green arrow, the two vehicles in front of me executed the left onto the highway. I continued across the highway to make a left onto the service (feeder) road that runs parallel to the highway. The lady that hit me was sitting across from me at the intersection with intents to make a right onto the highway. During the time I had the green arrow, she had a red light. She also has a sign that reads "Stop Here on Red", which means she is not suppose to make a right on red. Although that sign is there, people make right on red all the time. My supervisor and myself even witnessed a near accident from another driver making a right on red.
I was completly across the intersection and in front of the lady's lane (the route to get to the service (feeder) road, when she decides to take off from her "stop" sign in an attempt to make a right on red. I am not sure if she had mistaken me for turning onto the highway instead of the service (feeder) road or if she did not see me at all.
Once the officers took the report, another officer (sheriff's deputy) arrived on the scene and talked to the lady. It was clear there was some relation between the two.
There two officers that took the report. One seems like a rookie that may of been in the training process of the other officer that was with him. Once the rookie took my statement he stated that she was clearly at fault.
According to my supervisor, the company's policy is to put me on an automatic three-day suspension while their safety department investigates the accident. I was told that if the safety department determines that I was not at fault then I would be paid for the suspension.
It is now a week since the day I was suspended and I just received a call from my supervisor saying that I will probably get to come back to work tomorrow and that I was not going to be paid for the time I was suspended. The safety department ruled along with the accident report that came back saying I was at fault.
First of all, the safety department did not conduct an investigation on the accident. They called me into work to have a tele-conference and basicly interogated me on the phone. My supervisor and the district supervisor both agree that I was not at fault. My supervisor is allowing me to acquire the photos that were taken of the accident so that I can fight the situation. It is our beleif that the deputy that showed up was of some relation to the lady and he had the report rigged to show my fault.
Furthermore, I also beleif that if the service vehicle was properly maintain and did not have the problems it currently has, then it would of allowed me to completly avoid the accident. It is my responsibility to perform preventive maintenance on all the garbage trucks and to write up any issues associated with them for the mechanic. I have brought the issue of putting the service vehicles on a preventive maintenance schedule on several occasions since I started working there; only to get the reply "we will look into it".
I have access to all of the PM (preventive maintenance) records on all the vehicles there and I plan to make a copy of the records for the service vehicle to prove it has not been properly PM'd. Currently, the truck is in dire need of a brake job and front-end repair/alignment.
I would appreciate any help or insight on this situation.
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