pa putting ban on all commercial vehicals again

PA is closing highways to commercial traffic due to the ever increasing number of accidents during even light snow events involving those same commercial vehicles.

We have too many untrained and undertrained drivers aiming these rigs down the highways as it is. Some of these drivers manage to roll their rigs on clean, dry roads in high June. And the resulting cleanups and investigations are expensive. Not too mention the screaming and hollering from the local residents when their commutes are delayed due to yet another demonstration of "professional driver" incompetence.

So don't blame PA or PENNDOT for finally reacting to the lack of training or skill endemic to our industry. If the "training" carriers would actually TRAIN their rookies on how to deal with less than ideal road conditions, or how to tell off the dispatch idiot in the temperature controlled office, maybe we wouldn't have so many trucks in the ditch or blocking the blasted highways every darned winter!

I've been in this field for better than 20 years now, and every year I see more and more accidents that can simply chalked up to one of two reasons: either the driver did not know how to adapt his driving to current conditions, or the driver was pressured by his carrier to drive beyond his capabilities. Both point to a training failure. Fix that, and maybe the roads won't be closed over a mere six inches of the white fluffy stuff.

 

nailed it.

 

Must be overweight or had weak jakes. I drive the newer trucks that have weaker jakes than the old iron and I’ve managed to crest down a 16% grade in 5th gear with a 44k payload heading a steady 10-15 mph flicking the jakes to stage 2 and 3 as 2 gains speed and 3 loses speed. However the truck I have has 2 extra gears than the older t680s maybe my 5th is your 4th?

 

"Fuel economy geared" I believe something like a 2.79

79,800gross gotta love it with company specs.

 

those closings are costing a lot of money and time to o/o sitting in ohio or taking the back roads better yet the ny thruway if they are desperate, every week is the same thing so far this year...

 

I’m sitting in middlesex PA and since before noon when the empty ban hit, and past 3pm with the full ban. I see countless trucks come and go. I’m of the opinion trucks aren’t following the ban and are driving anyway.

 

Well this thread is getting deeper than the snow

 

Yea.. It's not PA fault they have worse road crew teams than Chicago. It's just all the bad truck drivers only drive in PA and wreck there when there's little snow on the ground.

 

Yay, I get to go to PA tomorrow. Hope it's over by tomorrow night like it's supposed to be.

 

I'll take PENNDOT's snow crews over almost any other state's.

Once again, it is not about the road crews. It's about the poorly trained truck drivers who either cannot or will not adapt to road conditions.

Believe it or not, it's not a good idea to he rolling at 65-70mph on slippery, slushy, or ice covered roads. Yet I see trucks doing exactly that every winter. It is also not smart to go full speed through white out conditions, yet I see trucks doing this as well. Every winter.

This is how the multi-vehicle pileups occur. Too many drivers (in every type of vehicle) do not understand how to moderate speed based on conditions. And since drivers will not operate safely, the state MUST take other action. In this case, being overly cautious co Corning whether or not to close the roads in less than ideal conditions.

I expect to see more and more states taking this same stance in the future. I suggest all of us, as truckers, learn to adapt to these new realities.