Driving Record and Hiring

[BMWags]

Hey all,

Ive had an interesting question asked to me, and I have no idea what the answer is, perhaps one of you full timers/ recruiters can help me.

Clearly a clean driving record is important to getting hired, but what happens if the person has a speeding ticket, or something of the sort? I know one guy who has had an at fault accident, and a careless driving and got hired. May I have your thoughts?

[FFWannabe]

5 speeding tickets, and an at fault accident and they still hired me... of course all of these are no longer showing on my record, and I've smartened up since then (the accident was truly not my fault, but technically when I rolled into the cigarette smoking, cell phone talking "lady" who stopped halfway into an intersection she claimed to have a wee sore neck... grrrr), but I bet if they really wanted to see what you had been up to... they could!

Here's a tip... stop speeding and driving into people... hee hee... sorry, couldn't resist!

Sue :)

[DeputyMikey]

Some departments want no more than 6 or 7 demerits. If you blow your demerits on one hit and run or 3 speeding tickets to total your 6 or 7 demerits i'm sure it dosen't matter. The cleaner the better i'm sure though.

Mike

[PEMS17]

Any alchohol related in the last 10 years and I doubt any emergency service would look at you. We couldn't have any more than 4 demerits in last three years. Seatbelt is worth 2, speeding is a minimum of 2.

[bestcoast]

More than 6 points on your license and you may be eliminated from further consideration in Vancouver it says in our recruitment section. With competition for jobs in the lower mainland so tight i would say more than 6 points and you'll be passed by...............BC..................

http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/fire/about/recruit/pdf/VFRS_application_guide.pdf

[FFWannabe]

Oh yeah, I should have mentioned... the 6 demerit points pretty much stands everywhere (as far as I know), police or fire. We were told a few times about points and told to be careful... some were warned a little more than others because some were close and some have a history (blush). I am sitting firmly at 0 right now and plan to stay there!!

Sue :)

[infernobuster]

I know that most dept's when doing the abstract portion of the recruitment they look for no more than 6 points.

Ive only ever heard of one person being excluded to move on the next stage of a recruitment, since he had 7 speeding tickets.

There could be more out there, but thats the only one i know of.

[fire16]

Irregardless of the no of pts ( for HTA) infractions, if the person is a good FF. should that bar her/him from the job? If it is a problem, dont let them drive an appartatus - which they probably wouldnt be doing for another year or two anyway. Crimianal code infractions are a different matter all together.

[BCFFFV]

Irregardless of the no of pts ( for HTA) infractions, if the person is a good FF. should that bar her/him from the job? If it is a problem, dont let them drive an appartatus - which they probably wouldnt be doing for another year or two anyway. Crimianal code infractions are a different matter all together.


A Fire Dept. isn't really left with much choice. If they looked the other way with driving records the liability issue would be HUGE. And they aren't going to hire people so that 2 years down the road they can drive.....

[bestcoast]

Also with many large FT FD's the amount of applicants is huge and having a Min. DL point's part(more than 6) is a way of weeding down some of the numbers. Maybe a good candidate is lost in the process but it's just the way the cookie crumbles. You need certain courses to get the job nowadays and a clean driving record is just one of those requirements you need, plain and simple................BC.............

[FFWannabe]

I wonder if it also has something to do with a person's srisk taking or .. what's the word... level of responsibility (not the word(s) I was looking for, but it works)... I know when I was speeding everywhere I wasn't likely the calmest or most responsible person in the world. I assumed that as long as I didn't drive fast with my daughter in the car, it was okay... complete disregard for the others on the road and how my driving may affect them, etc... kind of selfish and egocentric, me thinks... know what I mean? You can most certainly drive with 7 points or more, but I think maybe it says something about your character and your ability to see how you affect others as well. Just some early morning musings...

Sue :)

PS - Not a stab at anyone's character, I was a good person when I was driving like an idiot, but wasn't always thinking of others... phew, glad that's over... now I bitch at other drivers (quietly and to myself of course)! ;)

[fire16]

A Fire Dept. isn't really left with much choice. If they looked the other way with driving records the liability issue would be HUGE. And they aren't going to hire people so that 2 years down the road they can drive.....

1. Not saying should look the other way, but maybe more how points were accumulated.
2. With the shortage of volly FF's across Canada, can you afford to ( or not to ) "hire" someone with the desire to serve, based on a few driver demerits?
3. Many threads here indicate that one should not be driving an apparatus until they "know" how to operate it, where equipt is located, etc. This could conceivably mean they should not drive for 1-2 yrs. ( will depend on their wanting to learn curve)
Think I am trying to say,base this on an individual case to case basis, not on an actual set number.
4. If every vollie outfit was to meet EVERY law, policy, WCB, OHS ordinance or be shut down, pretty much guess there would be very few if any volly outfits left in CAn.

[bestcoast]

1. Not saying should look the other way, but maybe more how points were accumulated.
2. With the shortage of volly FF's across Canada, can you afford to ( or not to ) "hire" someone with the desire to serve, based on a few driver demerits?
3. Many threads here indicate that one should not be driving an apparatus until they "know" how to operate it, where equipt is located, etc. This could conceivably mean they should not drive for 1-2 yrs. ( will depend on their wanting to learn curve)
Think I am trying to say,base this on an individual case to case basis, not on an actual set number.
4. If every vollie outfit was to meet EVERY law, policy, WCB, OHS ordinance or be shut down, pretty much guess there would be very few if any volly outfits left in CAn.
Hey fire16, my comments, BCFFFV and most on here were geared towards driving points and getting on full time, I can see your points for sure in regards to applying to a POC or volunteer department though................BC..........

[BCFFFV]

Hey fire16, my comments, BCFFFV and most on here were geared towards driving points and getting on full time, I can see your points for sure in regards to applying to a POC or volunteer department though................BC..........


Once again.....well said Bestcoast. For sure Vollie dept's can hire whoever they want if there isn't many people applying. And as for demerit points.....please don't even get me started on that argument. You get 3 points for speeding out here and they don't put an "asterix" beside your transcript saying it was on an open highway with no other cars and no chance of hitting anyone for 14 miles. The points aren't all fair but it's there rules. My advice is dispute them all and hope to heck you get hired before you lose your court case and have them show up on your abstract.