Winter driving

My rule is...

If it requires chains, it is bad enough to shut down.

I'll chain up to get out of trouble - but not to head into it.

 

It really is a matter of slow down. That will take care of most of the issues. Know the weather and road conditions ahead, drive to your comfort level, do not be supertrucker, if you do not feel safe, park. Extend your following distance, Really just a lot of common sense. Not everybody uses that unfortunately. I was on I40 in New Mexico and Arizona last winter, woke up and hit the road about 3am and it was starting to snow again, there were points where I was driving 20mph on the Interstate but I made it through, unlike the 7 trucks I passed in about a 30 miles stretch that had wrecked, jacknifed or rolled.

Don't get yourself too worked up, Wisconsin is pretty good about getting their roads cleared. My only gripe up there is the cold. Got fuel at the TA in Hudson early one morning and it was -4.

 

NEVER.....


did I mention NEVER......

And that goes without saying.....
NEVER

drive in a condition that you are uncomfortable in.

I have a comfort level that would likely put a lot of people into the ditch or they will look at me and go the guy is NUTS.

I STARTED in a North Dakota blizzard going to Seattle on Jan 2, 1991 and we left at 10 PM. Yes, I left town with a trainer too. He got me down the road an hour and went to bed. Gotta love those days.

Your safety is #1. Nothing else matters. If your pucker factor says park it, by all means, park it.


Some of the things you can do to get used to it.....

in SAFE places. Get yourself into a power skid. When you apply power and your drives kick out on you. Do this really at a slow speed. Just so you get a feel on the truck for what it is. Then when you feel it at 40-50 mph, you won't freak out and do the wrong thing. The simplest is to just hit the clutch and stay OFF the brakes.

And NEVER jerk your steering wheel in the winter either.

 

It's not driving in snowy/icy conditions that is the major problem for an experienced truck driver; it's sharing the road with a group of idiots on ice.

For me, the first rule of thumb in winter conditions is to separate myself from everyone else on the road. That usually means that I'm going to be driving a bit slower, or faster, (depends on conditions) than everyone else.

When the roads are slick, you have to do everything gently; no quick changes of directions, no hard brake applications. Smooth is what you want and the further away from everyone else that you place yourself, the less likely it is that you'll have to react to someone else's stupidity.

It's important to know how bad the road is at all times and my preference is to gently touch the trailer brakes to see if the trailer will slide out. If it does, you're in ice, or near ice, and you have to be even more cautious.

Anytime you apply the brakes, look to your mirrors to see where your trailer is. As you well know, sometimes your trailer brakes will lock up before your tractor brakes.

Try to stay in the middle of your lane on packed snow; sometimes when you get near the edge of the line, slush from passing vehicles has mounded up and frozen, and if you cross it, it's hard to get back into the lane.

Just remember to give yourself lots of room and be smoooooooth & gentle.

BTW, when you park in fresh snow, jockey the rig back and forth until you've cleared a potential 'running start' for yourself. When you park for the night, after five or ten minutes, move the truck a foot or so; that gives the tires time to cool down so they don't melt their way into the snow and freeze there. Finally, when you park for the night, don't apply the trailer brakes. Your brakes may be wet when you shut it down & freeze to the drums; you can usually break the tractor brakes free with a little throttle action and use of the power divider - the trailer brakes will need heat or a hammer (if you're lucky). Hope this helps a bit.

 

Yep! Follow this piece of advice!

 

i'll chain up and make some money before i sit at the bottom of some hill for days.

main thing is just be slow and extra careful. don't be a super trucker that slides in the ditch.

 

Phil S said it all. The first paragraph being the most important!

 

In snow, ice etc.....
Don't go so fast that you need your brakes.
Don't use your brakes
If you must use your brakes, use them lightly and quickly...ABS is just about useless int he worst case scenarios
Do not brake on a turn, slow down before turn.
Leave power divider on if you have one,
NO SUDDEN MOVES!!!! Turn slow, brake slow, NO Evasive maneuvers.

I like to use jake, but some say that could cause jack knife. IMO jake will never lock your wheels, just slow them. If the drives skid, you can click it off. The trailer is more likely to skid if its wheels lock which is much more likely using brakes. If you dont use brakes, slowing down the truck with jake shouldn't send the trailer around, but if you see it jaking, turn off jake. In snow, i never touch the brakes if i'm over 5 mph. I just use the jake and high rpm down shifts to make the jake work well.

While accelerating, keep low rpm...just above lug. Low power makes you less likely to skid. If you must take a hill...chain up if you can, and go literally 5 miles an hour in 1st gear. If your truck starts sliding you are done, rolled over int he ditch.


While going down the highway, leave hazards on so the other idiots know your going slow. if lines are covered, use guard rails to guess where the road it. Mile post, signes etc. all are probably off the road. 1 shoulder with to the left is wear you should be. Dont follow the truck in front of you as a guide....he may run off the road. Figure out your own lane management using whatever sticks out of the snow, not the guy in front of you. Keep .25-.5 miles between the guy in front of you. Keep your CB on to warn other drivers if visibility is poor. If it becomes a white out, dont pull over, you will get hit. Keep on moving slow until the next rest area, (all lights on) and blow your air horn every 15-30 seconds to let other drivers know your there.

 

Outside temp display in the truck is helpful on those foggy or drizzly days when you're not sure if its freezing to the road. You still have to be cautious if it reads above freezing. Its just another tool to help you judge conditions.