Stopping for weather, especially winter road conditions

If the roads are open we go. In our part of the country if you don't drive in the snow you don't get anything done.
By the same token, our drivers have lots of experience in mountain driving in severe weather. If one of them calls in and says he's dropping the anchor until things get better we tell him to call us when he gets going again. The drivers don't shut down unless they have to and we have to respect that.
I can't think of anything we haul that is worth putting lives in danger for.
Personally, I'm glad for all the companies and drivers that shut down for bad weather. It keeps the road from being crowded with greenhorns and people who don't know what they're doing.

 

I don't see any point in going less than 40 so if I don't feel safe at 40 it's time to park.

 

Burn through a lot of chains do ya?

 

Midwest and South.

 

How will you ever improve your winter driving abilities if you park every time the roads start to deteriorate? You don’t learn a thing sitting in the truck stop.

 

Every company is different and will treat you differently. Few will flat out tell you to keep driving, they don’t want that liability on them if you wreck. That doesn’t mean they can’t slowly starve you out and force you to quit if you don’t perform up to their standards.

A company that runs all 48 and has drivers of all ability levels in their ranks will likely be more understanding when someone wants to park it. Compare that to a company like I used to work for that only ran the Northwest and Western Canada. If we all parked when the conditions were bad then the company would grind to a halt. If the roads were open then we were moving.

There’s a big difference between pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and being reckless. It sounds like you have a good handle on your abilities and you’ll continue to improve every winter.

 

All good points. Some drivers never want to push themselves, and some drivers are ignorant enough to do 65 in a blizzard. There’s a balance.

I see myself running the northwest a bunch this winter, I’m not looking forwards to the dummy’s that cause the pileups.

Last year we had a truck pulling a 16’ wide load call it a day because the road was getting too bad in Wyoming. As his pilot car was checking into the hotel he heard the sirens heading out to I-80. They just missed one of the 100 truck pileups that happened last year.

I’m pretty comfortable driving in the snow, it’s the other guys around me that worry me. Almost every winter someone crashes directly in front of me, thankfully I’ve been able to miss them every time.

 

You mean like this