Gust of Wind

driving in adverse condidtions?

It would seem to me, the companies would discourage driving when the risk of accidents is so much higher.

Is it the companies pressuring drivers to maintain their scheduled pickup and deliveries, or is it that the drivers cannot make money while sitting idle?

On the surface, it would appear to me that it would cost more to pay for an accident than have some late deliveries.

Thanks in advance.

 

A pickup truck collided with a delivery truck about 6:30 a.m. Friday near Holland in Allegan County's Fillmore Township, sheriff's Sgt. Chris Kuhn said. The pickup driver was killed instantly, he said.


When will people learn to just give up let mother nature have her way and take a day off???......nothing is worth a life.



http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070303/NEWS01/703030317

 

Yesterday I was driving in my SUV south of Omaha Nebraska, clear and sunny but windy. The road was 1 lane each way, I saw the snowplow coming the other way and slowed as he got close. Good thing I did, he hit my windshield with about 2 inches of slush, and even with wipers on high, I was blind for 2 or 3 seconds. Of course there was a line of cars and trucks behind the plow, thank god I veered slightly right instead of slightly left.

Scared the bettlejuice out of me.

 

It being Friday, the driver may have been trying to get home...

But, even in cases like that, sometimes you gotta say..."I think I need to wait it out a little while.."

 

Based on the weather I have encountered this past week, I am not going to try to throw blame on the driver. I have encountered just about every kind of poor road conditions imaginable, and wind was one of them. On Thursday morning, I had a loaded trailer going up into Wisconsin. It was about 3 hours worth of driving, I allotted 4.5 hours in my schedule to arrive, and it took a full 6.5 hours to get there. I fought some horrendous winds on the way up there, and combining them with the ice I came across, made the decision that if that weather pattern persisted at the receiver, I would not return from the trip with a light empty trailer.

By the time I arrived and unloaded, the weather had changed completely, and the conditions were fine heading back. Just south of Milwaukee I stopped for a quickie nap, and was in a huge rain downpour.

Moral to the story, even though I planned to stop and park if needed, the weather changed enough that I didn't need to. Conditions varied so much over such a short distance tat I could have made a prudent decision to travel, and encountered dangerous winds 20 miles down the road and never known it until the trailer blew sideways on an icy patch.

I don't think I have ever encountered so many varied weather conditions as I have in the past week. This driver may have done the same, and his first warning of high winds my have been the trailer blowing around. I have been in that situation, and all you can do is react after the fact. We are not blessed with the foresight to know the weather pattern 20-30 miles down the road. many times I wish I could foresee what's ahead of me, but I never do.

 

I hope that my question did not appear to be placing blame and if it did, I apologize. Deciding whether to continue, or to stop has got to be a tough call, one that can make you look pretty smart or fooliish depending on the outcome and I was just wondering how the industry handles this type of thing.

Thanks.