Slick roads 101

Okay gang, for those of you who prefer to feel safe in a parking lot, ignore this post. For those of you who want to learn how to drive on slick roads, or possibly be an owner operator, this one is for you.

The freezing rain started yesterday afternoon. I left out around midnight. Trucks were crammed into the truckstops. Had to beat on a sleeper to get out. Trucks were parked on either side of the road and down the shoulders of the interstate. I stepped out on the bigroad, and yes the road was slick, BUT if you have technique, you can make it.

Several things you new guys do wrong that get you in trouble.

1. Follow too closely
2. Ride side by side with another vehicle
3. Drive too slowly
4. That freakin power divider!!!!
5. No CB.

Heres what I want you to drive to learn how to drive on slick roads. Ease out onto the bigroad, easy on the throttle and steering. Get up to 40-45 mph, but get your rpms up around 1400-1500, and run light pressure on the throttle.

Why 40-45 mph?

Too slow is almost as bad as too fast. On a banked curve, you will slide sideways if you are going too slow. On an incline, you will spin out.

Freezing rain when it builds up feels gritty to the touch. You CAN get traction, but you have to be careful of wheel spin which will polish the ice (hence the light throttle and higher rpm). Do a 15 second following distance. At 40 mph, a 15 second following distance gives you the ability to come to a complete stop without touching the brakes. If someone passes you and cuts down your following distance, back down just a bit until you regain your 15 seconds. You should be able to proceed down the road at a relatively easy, stress free pace.
Youre coming up to a hill, pick your speed up to 55, then downshift to get those rpms back up, then light throttle. That should give you the momentum to make the hill.

Saw a bunch of trucks running close together. Looked like a convoy. Then someone tried to pass them and they're all riding side by side. Dangerous. I backed down and kept my following distance. A Swift truck (not trying to pick on Swift, but it was a Swiftie) came to a complete halt on an incline to lock his power divider in front of a convoy. Drivers started screaming, but they shouldn't have been following so close. Even so, right lane was blocked. Bet the HP that pulled in front of them was fit to be tied.

Say traffic stops on a hill. What do I do?

Stay on flat ground if you can't get by in the left lane. Hit the shoulder. At least you won't need a wrecker. If you have to slow down, slow down, keep your 15 seconds, but do not stop. If you have to slow down enough that you have to shift into the bottom gears of the transmission, off the throttle, engage your power divider, then shift into lower gears. You should be able to walk around them. If there's snow on the road, put your tires on the snow. Snow has traction

This is for the interstate only. The two lanes are tighter and banked steeper.

Another thing. If you have a CB, turn it on in bad weather. You want to hear about a road being shut down BEFORE you get to the shutdown. You should have seen the number of bottomfeeder trucks that got stuck on the shoulder of the road because they ran out of hours. Do you want to be on the shoulder of the road for 10 hours? How could you relax? You're constantly waiting to feel the crunch. Turn the CB on, and turn the volume low. If you hear a bunch of chatter, turn it up to hear what's being said. You don't have to listen to every word, but you want to listen for words like EASTBOUND or SOUTHBOUND.

Like I said, at 40mph, you won't slide off the road if you hit your brakes. You shouldn't have to hit your brakes if you do the 15 second following distance. Get the rpms up, and run a slightly lower gear than you normally do so that the engines torque doesn't make the wheels spin. Don't worry about what everyone else is doing. I made it around the Swift truck and the convoy behind them because of the following distance. Went up quite a few grades and did not have to engage the power divider. Most importantly, the long following distance will prevent the brain from frying because of stress.

I have an 18 speed. I would imagine that you guys with autos can manually drop gears to get the rpms up (I wouldn't know how that would work on an auto, but I am sure we can get one of the gang here to chime in. Remember, this is for the bigroad only. Interstates and toll roads are wider and not as steep or banked as hard as the 2lane black top. I wouldn't recommend trying to learn slick roads on two lanes. Anyways, thanks for reading and safe travels to all of you.

one more thing: I would like to see someone do a video of driving on slick roads.