Is this your first Winter in snow + ice ?

Driving the big-rigs in snow and ice

 

Yep yep my FIRST winter ever in da snow but I'm not a BIG truck driver. Actually yesterday was our FIRST big snow. I had to drive from my place about 178 miles rt to pick up my daughter from campus, tomorrow is her 17th birthday....Happy Birthday Kate......but anyways I did great. 91 & 90 both were cleared and very easy to drive, in town was another story.....just a wee bit of sliding, but it was fun.

 

I have been asked a lot over the years what its like to drive trucks in the snow, mostly by non-truck drivers who are just curious..

I just tell them you need to be smooth and I mean really smooth in your driving style...As stated above don't stomp on the brakes or make sudden lane changes by swerving if it can be helped..

If your a driver that likes to ride up on other vehicles too close, brake late, or zig zag thru traffic your not going to last long out here in the winter..

Its been said a million times already, if your not comfortable PARK IT until the roads get better !! NO load is worth a life..

GP

 

4) No one can drive on pure ice, they just think they can.

5) Just because there is snow on the road and every one is going 30 mph you don't need your 4 way flashers on. I makes it very difficult to tell when someone ahead is braking. Do they teach this in school?

 

Especially at night 4 ways are distracting when someone in front of you is running them costantly. Please, turn em off.

 

4 ways should be used on the shoulder , not in the middle lane . They are emergency flashers . If the conditions are an emergency for you park it .

 

If that was really true 90% of the Canadians would be eliminated by mid-January .

 

Yup, thats cause a little bit of snow doesn't even phase us, not like down south where a few flurries causes everyone to panic.

 

My typical resting place on a December morning - I84 in Pa around the 49 MM westbound stuck in the middle of the road with my set of doubles. Note Pennsylvania's crack job plowing the road. At this point, the snow/sleet/ice had been over in Pa for about an hour but the road was still not plowed. In front of that 6 wheeler is where all the action was taking place - an eastbound driver counted about 30 sets of doubles stuck on the hill..lol.. The 6 wheeler took the next exit and I followed 5 FedEx Freight's the rest of the way to Scranton. At times we were down to 15 MPH because there was so much wet heavy snow on the road it was pulling us in the direction of the median. It is understandable for a southern state to not plow right away but Pennsylvania has no excuse. Last years night maintenance left something to be desired so I can only imagine what this year will be like now that the state is broke..lol..