Driving through winter conditions?

slow and steady, more following distance, stop when the weather is beyond your skill level to navigate safely. while with a trainer, every student should ASK to be taught how to use chains. they are simple to learn, and yet not easy to figure out on your own if no one has shown you.

black ice is a big danger....much worse danger than snow in most cases. anytime the roads are wet, and its below 37 degrees or so, you should be keeping an eye on the spray from your trailer tires. if the spray stops, beware. not saying that as long as there is spray there is no danger, but NO spray should be a huge red flag. anytime im concerned about the possibility of being caught unaware by ice, i will tap my brakes fairly frequently...maybe once every minute or two.

 

pokerhound67 pretty much covered the important points

 

The Most important thing is to slow down . You need to be smooth ..... Steering , brakes and throttle ..Look a little further ahead than usual. And stay away from 4wheelers. The worst things are the snow banks around parking lots and business entrances . They take up a lot of space and when frozen are trouble!

A lot of times you can avoid the height of the storm , leave early ,later or what ever. And every storm is different . Wet snow or artic powder etc...

And don't be afraid to park it. A load in the ditch isn't going to help any one.

You'll learn we all did.

 

missed something important...some weather should never be attempted. hurricanes and tornadoes can kill you with very little warning if you are not aware of whats ahead of you. always important to know what you are driving into as far as these are concerned.

i once passed a truck that was flipped upside down (wheel base pointed up). truck could not have been 6 feet tall, tho it was a normal 13'6" type tractor trailer attached to box van. only thing i know coulda done that to a truck was a tornado picking it up and throwing it down HARD. driver was dead if he was in it...no question.

 

Go a speed you feel comfortable with. If you're going under 45mph put your flashers on. once you don't feel safe anymore you park it. If you're not delivering food or ammo to the troops then no load is worth your life.

 

Something Pokerhounds did miss. You're not on the road all by yourself. The movie Forest Gump had a quote to live by, "You can't fix Stupid" and there's a lot of it all around you.

If you find that you are surrounded by 'Stupid' and can't, with any certainty, manage your speed, lane, braking or surrounding environment, it's better to get off the road than become part of the problem or, as the case permits, 'Stupid' as well. I'm happy to say that my Company (capital 'C' cause they've earned my respect), does not want us using chains and, driving a smooth bore tanker (serious liquid surge), requires exceptional control of those variants I mentioned earlier... the surge alone can throw you into a very difficult situation to recover from under any condition, let alone black ice. They instead advise us to use discretion and go to a safe haven until conditions improve. The load can't get to the customer if it's spilled out all over the countryside or your combination finds itself damaged against a guard rail, barrier or stuck in a mire up against some trees off the road.

Stupid is a good reason to exit the highway and wait for the road crews to return the conditions to tolerable and manageable. A couple of days ago, while driving up from Savannah, GA I hit freezing fog as I entered into North Carolina on I-95. Stupid was found not only on the highway thinking 4x4's can negotiate lane changes but also on the right in ditches, on the left up against the median guard rails and making insane decisions all around me.

I could not control Stupid or the conditions that came to surround my vehicle (empty at the time) so I gradually worked my way into the nearest Flying J and decided breakfast was the smarter option. I met a lot of other 'Smart' drivers in there too.

It's equipment, it's life an it's your responsibility to make the right decisions. Don't tempt fate. You will be thankful you didn't hurry when you read about and hear about everyone else's experiences and accidents.

You got off and did the right thing.

'Bigfoot'
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I live in the mountains and know many truckers that will not run if it is snowing heavily,
The advise about spray from you trailer is a great thing many people do not know that I would add that if you are not getting spray from the traffic going the other way or from those in front of you on the windshield, black ice is a possibility.
I would add if you are driving and notice the chains on truck coming the other way are clean, that means he has had them on.
If it is snowing, you have to stop and clean off the lights on the back of you trailer, someone driving into the back of your trailer will put you in the ditch.
You want to go slower than the posted corner speeds unless you really know the road. Also it is better to be late than dead, when in doubt PARK it.
Just a thought!

 

There's a lot of good advice on here, take it slow and easy, I was on I65 coming thru Kentucky last Friday had bad ice and freezing rain, but low n behold there were drivers still trying to drive, the highway was backed up for at least 5 miles because of accidents. No freight is worth a life Period!