Michigan City IN

So you're out here fer yer health, and don't need a payday. Ah, yeah...

 

You're being disingenuous. I'm sure we all know the point spyder7723 was making.

 

If you read my previous post it is very clear that I was referring to the guys that try to get you to hit them in order to file a lawsuit.

 

There are many times where we drive into condition that we think we are prepared for but are not. It is a fact of life that there will be times but for the Grace of God we could be killed. It is unfortunately part of the job. It is our duty to make driving as safe as possible. We need to have the latest winter information and we must have the personal courage to stand up to dispatcher who order us to take chances that are beyond our abilities.

There was a deadly crash in Platte County, MO that looked a lot like the pictures here. That crash was fog related. Oklahoma and the Flinthills of Kansas have seen crashes like this because of prairie fires. Sometimes you can't know what you are getting into but don't drive ignorant.

There are going to be folks fired for this wreck who were in no way responsible for the wreck. Folks who had their lights on and were struck from behind and pushed into something ahead of them. Still their families future will be put in jeopardy. We drive for them.


My prayers go out to all involved as well of those of you who could be in the future.

 

I will never forget this:

I-80, 2 am, visibility probably a few feet, I'm following Covenant's flashers just to have a reference of where the road is hoping Covenant is following somebody else because the lines on the shoulder can't be seen and then some billy big rigger super duper trucker in his old International blows our doors off doing pretty much 70. I was doing 45 at the time, kicked up so much snow I was blind for like 20 seconds just hoping there were no curves up ahead.

This are the people I want to see DOT thrusting their ridiculous fines to.

 

My favorite driving conditions!

 

yours is the first, so i will start here

firstly, you dont know what the conditions were, other than rain, snow, wind and ice, and single digit temps

you could have had a 100yrd space and still had an accident, because NO TRUCK OR CAR should be on the road at these times

but this is what we do for a living, so we do it, and once the first truck slides, its downhill from there

as i watched this, i was thinking, what if you had stopped JUST IN TIME, and then someone behind you came in and slammed into you, and put you in the pileup

what if you were the last truck that did not get in the accident, but was now stuck in the mess afterwards

i am sitting in atlanta now, because after seeing this, i was not in the mood to run up to maine and new hampshire, figured i would just sit out till monday

it has nothing to do with fear, i have driven the rockies in much worse weather

but these days, i am weighing risk

all of those drivers, even the innocent ones will get dinged on their CSA scores, because the feds dont assign blame, just record that you have been in a wreck, and may even add the fatalities to your record

so tell me why any sane driver would even go out in such weather?

can he make it? of course
will he get into an accident? most likely not

but same can be said for driving 100mph on a clear day, but very few of us would risk driving 100mph to deliver a load and i feel much safer at 100mph than on snow, ice and single digit temps

 

you can drive slow as you want, but in this weather, its virtually impossible to "keep your distance", unless you slow down to about 5mph, and now you become an impediment to other drivers who now much navigate into the icy left lane to pass you

lets be real and save the bumper sticker slogans for safety managers who dont drive in this mess

 

elogs are definitely a factor in this mess, but the feds will never admit to that aspect of the problem

as well as drivers too afraid to tell their dispatchers NO

 

i disagree spyder

if these drivers would tell their dispatchers NO, that is only half the problem

what about you start out your day, it starts to snow, so you keep driving, and now the road gets worse, but that ##### computer wont stop, and you cant stop it

elogs are nothing but an added stress to the job

some can handle it, some cannot