Snow and Black Ice

I was on I80 last year in Wyoming. Cruising a long minding my own business with 42000 on my trailer... It was dark. All the sudden my truck starts fishtailing... Let off the throttle just in time to watch Conway blow past me at at least 65mph. Next thing I see is the side of his truck and trailer.... All I could do was hope he wasnt there when I got there. Thankfully for me, not quite so for him he rolled it into the median. Looked behind me and could see the side of KLLMs trailer. Looked back again after I pulled over and another truck decided to join Conway in the median. But he stayed upright.

 

i dont care who you are , just slow down, i rember 3 years ago a major snow storm hit ks , ks, thank's alot, i went down for swift, they sent me home cause i forget a paper, sat three days in the bus terminal, when cleared too go that was the scarcest ride back too des moines, 18 wheelers in the middle this greyhound driver going so fast on ice and snow, there be no way he could stop, i just clutched the seat a bit tighter and didn't move

 

Did I mention that was my first winter driving experience... I parked n called Prime n told them "NO, Im not moving"

 

and you know what i almost got fired for that, what did prime say too you, that was one of my question's i was going too ask prime and there policy on that.

 

I told um what happend and they said "OK". Asked if I could still make the appointment, told um I thought I could. They said if not just let them know and they would reschedule

 

okay thank's i thinkno load worth your life, im very safe and a very slow driver when weather like that, seen too many bad 18 wheeler's wreck too know better. thank's for the info.

 

Thats what our safety director says. Ive shut down twice for weather and never suffered for it. With the exception of being extremely bored.

 

I curious why you say not to follow a quebec truck? I'm not gonna lie though being from up north its hammer down all the time no matter the weather you just get used to it.

In the winter you may as well forget you have a jake brake as mentioned it can lock up your wheels in slippery conditions.

I cant stress enough leave plenty of following distance a couple years ago i seen and accident where a car spun out a truck tried to dodge it went into the snow bank and 4 more trucks all ran into the back of each others trailer.

As said watch for spray on the tires if it's a cold cold night you wont see any spray so watch the tail lights of the vehicle in front of you the longer the light stretches on the ground the icier its getting

If your climbing a hill a start spinning out drop a gear get your rpms up outta the torque range torque is power power breaks traction in slippery situations, with that being said tires play a big part in that too bald or nearly bald tires and a heavy load may as well call just the tow truck.

When parking your truck in the snow at a TS shipper home where ever backup a little farther then you want and pull forward do that a few times to pack the snow down make it harder so your hot tires wont melt the snow as much an sink you in as bad making it easier to get out.

this one i would think would be common sense but i see it every year. if you try and leave a spot and your wheels start spinning just stop please just stop flip the diff lock switch if you have one go a couple gears higher and try again if its still spinning go tell you get to a gear the stalls the truck and go one lower the goal is to use the clutch and very slowly get the truck rocking progressively rocking more and more tell you can hit the fuel at the right time and pop out.if you can't get the littlest bit of rocking and you just spinning the tires go find a shovel or salt dirt something just sitting there spinning the tires making a smoke show is pointless you'll burn you tires off before you melt enough ice to get out.

And the last one i can think of when stopping for the night DO NOT put the parking brakes on the trailer on they have a good chance of freezing to the drum which sometimes can be a pain in the ### to release if your dropping the trailer nothing you can do it unfortunately becomes somebody else's problem.

Those arn't all about driving but are some good winter tips i'v been told or learned through my few years hope they help somebody else out....out those little 2 1/2ft extenable shoves you can get at walmart is some good equipment to have with you during the winter i love mine

 

i did that over in ohio, major blizzard , shut down the road, the dot was routing in the truck stop there, the Ta, i stayed up all night, going back and forth about a foot, come morning i was only one that got out , rest were digging snow out from under there trailers , i just put in low and drove it out. i had lot's traction , i plowed thru and moved snow from under my trailer, i was loaded heavy, made a big mess in parking lot but o well that's what they got snow plows for

 

When I was stuck in that blizzard in Deming, NM. My exit was delayed by all the trucks in the Walmart ahead of me having to knock their trailer brakes free. They were all from Arizona and California, lol. I had enough experience running in the midwest during winter with Stevens to know not to set the trailer brakes.