winter driving

Wow, 50 - 58 mph on snow? Maybe under ideal conditions, but it is far better to flow with sane (not billybigrigger) traffic and adjust your speed/following distance accordingly. Let Billy blow by you and you'll probably see him down the road in the ditch. At 50 on slick snow, things can happen so fast they'll amaze you.

Downhill? Try huge following distances, slow way down (especially before curves), relax and gentle on controls, downshift to let motor hold you back, no jake, light braking as if eggs were on the pedal, don't change lanes on bridges (go straight across) watch mirrors and when you begin to read your company name in the mirror, get off the brakes.

Lugging? I'd say no because there is a good change you'll need to quickly grab a lower gear (or three) and a sloppy shift(s) will cause you to breaks traction. I use the lowest RPM and highest gear the truck will comfortably pull to maintain my cruising speed.

Roads ahead really nasty? Tell dispatcher, park, wait until the state plows/salts and proceed accordingly. If you feel really uncomfortable, they'd probably rather have a late load than a wrecked truck.

BTW, I rarely believe CB road condition reports from other drivers. Drivers are notorious BS people and tend to exaggerate because it frightened them or they want to frighten you. I look at the oncoming trucks to see how bad things are and read USA Today weather maps religiously. The have little pictures of the weather pattern and I try to run ahead of storms.

 

Diogenes,
I agree with Most of what you said,
however I disagree with a few things which in 22 years of winter driving, back when Cabbage was 2 lanes, one east and one west The CB reports used to be accurate, they still are you just have ask the right ones.
In your reply to lugging you then described your version of what is considered Lugging, and I would suggest being careful with that advice, Each Motor is different, CAT, Cummins, Detroit, Paccar, Mack, and Volvo all have different HP and Torque curves.
The BEST advice any Trucker can get or Give is as follows,

Number one NEVER drive faster than you FEEL comfortable you can HANDLE.

SECOND NO LOAD IS EVER WORTH YOUR LIFE, IF you do not feel 110% abotu the conditions especially at night when it is more challenging to SEE the roads and Black ICE. DO NOT Drive if the company you works for Threatens to fire you then find another JOB they are not looking out for your Safety and are only Profit Pirates.
NEVER, NEVER let anyone push you beyond your limits, There is not shame in Slowing down, and if someone says anything to you on the CB or otherwise, To hell with them you are not in a BOX 6' under.

 

Doc,

We're in agreement, I think. I probably misread or misunderstood lugging.

To me lugging is barely pulling the truck for the gear it is in and on the verge of needing a fast downshift. There are plenty of big motors today that will stroll along at pretty low RPM and do it with ease.

You are too right about letting the fat mouths on the CB get to you. Ignore them until you pass them in the ditch.

On CB reports, I'll stick with my method because it works for me. I have no way on knowing the experience level of the driver giving me the report. If he's a newb or a fairweather, Sun Belt, I-10, I-40 guy who rarely runs the northern tier, a dusting of snow will seem horrible. Besides, I have NOAA on my radio and I've already made up my mind whether or not I could make it.

 

What follows is opinion, plain and simple.

Giving this thread some more thought, I've come to the conclusion that winter driving is more of a mental exercise than anything. Yes, it's slower sometimes and nerve wracking, but most truck accidents happen daylight on nice big roads with dry pavement.

Really, we psych ourselves into thinking that winter driving is pretty hairy. We are our own worst enemy. It doesn't help to hear a bunch of drivers hollering on the CB for hundreds of miles, " Hey eastbound, what's it look like up on Flag? " All too often the reply is, It's greasy as hay-ell drahver!" What is unsaid is that it was two hours ago when that the driver came over Flag and it will be at least two hours before we get there. The flip-side is the report of beautiful roads two hours before the storm. Much can change in a few hours Flag isn't bad under the worst of conditions.

Now if I had to choose a vehicle for a thousand mile trip over really nasty roads and I could pick a nice 4WD with snow tires or a big truck, there is no doubt which vehicle I'd pick. I'd take the big truck.

One reason is the number of 4WD vehicles I've seen in the ditch, but the main reason is that my big truck is pretty darned stable, unlike that short wheelbase 4WD that will snap around in a second. It's long and heavy so I have to get pretty sloppy on the controls to make it do something out of the ordinary.

Jacknifes? Well we know what causes them, usually following way too closely, going too fast for conditions and sloppy braking. We also know to watch the mirrors closer under potential jackknife conditions and we learn to sense the mild rumbling that sometimes accompany them. No big deal, make a gentle correction and keep on going.

I'm a little amused that some drivers avoid the northern tier like the plague in the winter. They'll beg dispatch for that Yuma - Atlanta load of lettuce. Think about it. In winter we hear less BS up north on the CB, the locals and truckers know how to drive in winter, and the highway departments have the knowledge and equipment to get ahead of bad roads.

But in the southern tier, the road can still get bad. The absolute worst winter driving conditions I've ever seen were in states that rarely have really bad winters. I'm talking Texas, Missouri, Tennessee and South Carolina but I've seen others that were almost as bad. They don't have the equipment and by time they get out there, the roads are packed with ice. The locals go nuts and often lose it right in front of you. Sorry Sun Belt but I'll take the northern tier in winter.

Almost forgot chaining up. If you're a local guy or into some kind of short haul thing, go for it. If you're OTR, there is just too much leeway (with trip planning) and I don't chain up. Fact is, I chained up once to get out of a parking lot in Joliet, IL and that was it. The lot was vacant and slightly snow covered over a sheet on thick glare ice. Uh oh.

I always figure that if the roads are that nasty, I'll hit the sack and go again after the highway departments have them graded and salted. Even if I chained up fast, ran a hundred miles at much reduced speed to reach clear roads, then took the chains off, what have I gained? Again, just opinion.

 

Heres some sound advice that i haven't see posted yet keep you're 5 th wheel lubed a slick 5 th wheel will make your truck handle better especially on ice
I use the kind you can get at any truck stop that comes in a bottle not grease grease washes off on sloppy roads
Keep it smooth "Drive the road not the truck "

 

look, if you really want to learn how to drive in the mtn's on snow/ice, you should have been in the passenger seat of my truck Weds. night heading over Wolf Creek in a snow storm. CDOT was plowing the east side, but it wasn't doing any good.
From So. Fork to the tunnel was wet, as soon as you came out of the tunnel it was snow, but decent traction. Halfway between the tunnel and the snowshed, it turned to snow covered ice, my ATC (auto traction control) light was flashing like a #### disco ball but I made it, barely to the top.
Still no chain law, guess I should have used my common sense and put them on for the downhill. I was empty, but holy &%^$* was that a wild ride, it was me and two other trucks, 4th gear and no throttle was still too #### fast, touch the brakes and the trailer tried to pass, on a lark I tried my jake on medium and the whole truck started sliding. Pretty much spent the entire downhill sideways, about halfway down I called CSP on my cell and told them they better get the chain law up or they were going to have a problem. 5 minutes later two CDOT plows went cruising by, sure enough they saw how bad we were sliding, as well as one heading EB that had spun out and was trying to back down to Treasure Falls to chain up, they put the chain signs up, it was like that for 20 hrs.

Wildest ride I've ever had in the snow, pucker factor for me was about a 7.5, the O/O ahead of me who had never been on Wolf Creek, I'd say the pucker factor was 11.

 

worst time I ever had driving in winter conditions in traffic was DFW/N. Texas during an ice storm and Alb. during a snowstorm.

 

Have not read all 10 pages of this but will comment anyway. DIOGNES above has good info and TM2002 nailed it with the 5th. wh. lube IMO. A dry 5th. will put you in the ditch (jacknife) as quick as slamming on the brakes.

I do know without a doubt that just following the vehicle in front of you is a sucker-bet if he's going too slow OR just following someone else that's going too slow. There are alot of times that just passing a whole string of
scared people is the best bet. The 1 thing YOU do not want to do is hit the brakes ! If your in a string of traffic and someone does something STUPID, you will be caught-up in it. I will be the guy that falls out into the left lane and passes you, and leaves you, and the rest of the hazzards behind. Don't be afraid to drive your truck! On ICE momentum can either be your friend,,,or your enemy. It's a ballance between staying moving & being able to stop.
JMO...R

 

Do you guys in the US have the weather radio channels like we do up in Canada? They are a world of important information on weather systems and areas.

 

I know they use to have the weather radio channels on all the truck radios. Don't know about now though.