Negotiating Curves

I’m a fairly new driver and still having trouble with some curves. I know I should go at the speed I’m comfortable with but sometimes feel I’m overly cautious and a bit sensitive to the body roll of the tractor. These are not curves with posted speed limits . I drive mostly in Texas. I would like to get better at this. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated. I driver freightliner daycab if that makes a difference.

 

Keep it slow and ignore anyone on the CB radio giving crappy advice.

 

Keep it slow and use up all the lane. Worry about the trailer tilting over what the cab is doing.

 

When it starts to tip, back off the throttle.

 

Better at what?
Being overly cautious - or going faster?

That driver that just rolled the truck, I'll bet, was wishing he/she had been a bit more overly cautious this time.

Driving slower through turns can only irritate some drivers behind you for a few seconds.
Rolling the truck over because you are in a hurry can be a career ender.
And there will be a lot more irritated drivers behind you waiting for hours for that tow truck and crane to get your rig out of there.

Keep the cautious attitude, and a healthy sense of fear for what could happen.

 

It just takes experience, driver. You won’t even notice it when you begin to have a feel for how fast you can take those curves. Just take it easy, be very cautious and you’ll never have an accident. Drivers in a rush are the ones rolling trucks over and hitting stuff.

 

You can go through a curve too slow a million times. You can only go through a curve too fast once. If you survive you will be jobless as a rollover for speed is a career killer.

 

There was a roll over on 95 in South Carolina Wednesday afternoon. Highway shut down. How mad you think all the cars and trucks stuck in it were? I was lucky and got into a rest area I was still mad. Just remember the turtle beat the hare.

 

I'm fairly new myself, but I'd say that when you first start to feel the tiniest bit of g force in the seat of your pants - and you should soon learn to predict this coming by simply looking at an approaching curve - you've reached a limit. It might even be best to brake until that feeling goes away if you misjudged it a little. I'm also much more leery with top heavy loads (like pallets loaded to the roof) vs. lower slung ones (like bottled water).

 

Couple of things to keep in mind...
—Always try to straighten a curve as much as possible Enter from top go to bottom exit at top
—Slow Before the curve and accelerate thru...this keeping your suspension tight
Acceleration thru curve does not mean speeding...just slowly and steadily pick up speed thru
Best example I can think of is a curved ramp
Let’s say it has a 25 mph yellow sign....you should enter that curve well below 25 and be accelerating thru to so you’re close to 25 as you exit
Just stay calm
Keep doing what your doin
You’ll get the hang of it