Out of Control Semi Slams Into Several Others Saturday on I-5 South of Ashland

Well you can add a gear once you know the grade. As fast as the cars drive down the I -17 which is around 80 mph even down the mountain, and with the blind curves you never know whats around the bend when these people crash it useally shuts down the highway for hours, especially around Holidays and weekends.You will be much better off trying to stop at 35 than 60mph

 

He may be loaded a lot lesser than you are.Dont let someone drive your truck.If they cant look up the road enough to see whats going on then they are more of the problem then you are.

 

I don't think I've been down 5, it's been a while since I've been out that way. Those kinds of roads I tend to go down once and make a note to avoid them. Some of them I have fun with though. I like driving my own personal roller coaster every once in a while.

 

I don't need 60,000lbs of someone else's problem landing on my face. Cause then it's my problem, however briefly. My truck travels at a speed that doesn't make me nervous, no matter what the conditions are. There's no magic formula for that. It's something every driver will figure out for themselves.

 

I used to work for a company with a terminal right behind Jubitz. I remember the one coming down cabbage, if the scales were open, you could count on a trooper being at the bottom. Not running radar so much but timing. The scales would let the trooper below know of a heavy truck coming down and they know how long it should take them to reach the bottom. I know this cause I was getting paper checked when they did it.
Some trucks, just dropping 1 gear before starting down a grade is not enough. If your truck has the uummph (meaning hi HP ((500+ to the wheels)) w/tall gears) to get up the grades rather quickly, even fully loaded you definitely need to drop more than 1.
But I agree with most posts, he was probably going to fast, either a jake that didn't work properly, not at all or just didn't have one. I also bet that he wasn't running a radio either. At least he might have been able to warn the other drivers.

 

For you beginners coming down mt.ashland there are recomended speeds posted at the top of the hill.Follow them in the right gear and you will be fine.There are a few blind turns and you want to be able to get stopped in case of an emergency.

 

Its been a while, but cabbage is i believe for 80,000lbs its 18mph right?

 

Well there are grades with speeds to be driven down by your weight at 80,000lbs 18mph.

 

I went down Ashland late last week.. I almost forgot how bad (steep) it is. Just gear it right, stay at the recommend speed and you will be ok..