I need a confidence boost!

Like said above, watch for the spray from tires to look for a freezing road.

I70 and I76 suck, there's alot of hills and turns and your in for a good ride in the winter time, but one thing you have on your side is that its saturday night and that means that there isnt nearly as much truck traffic out on the highways and it will be easier for you to take your time and go at your own pace without other people driving like jerks to try to get around you...

your going to be going up over town hill and the likes, it sometimes gets foggy up there and the road can turn to crap in a heartbeat, just take your time, watch out for other people driving like nuts and if you get drowsy or tired pull over, because fighting ice and snow at night time will be enough of a task for a green driver fresh out of school, let alone trying to fight sleep ontop of that.

Good luck, safe travels.

 

A lot of good points.

THEY sit in their nice warm offices, half have never been in a truck, and another 1/4 don't even know what one is. They are taught that a truck CAN travel 600 miles in 11 hours. So they assume that all trucks can do that all the time, thus every load is hot, hot, HOT! They don't watch the weather...they have 40+ drivers to monitor, loads to assign, phones to answer, and pizzas to order. It's a perfect world for them...their desk is always 72 degrees and the fluorescent sunshine is constant

For US, we have the traffic, the construction, the weather, and shippers/receivers who could care less how many hours we have left. WE know what's going on, and we have to adjust for conditions.

NO LOAD is worth your life or anyone else's. And it's not going to get delivered on time if it's upside down a few miles past Somerset.

A saying I learned at another company (some will recognize it) is "Safety is a Choice." It truly is...and it's YOUR choice. If you don't feel safe doing it, then by all means, park it, call your DM/FM, whomever, and let them know why. If they give you any gruff, give Safety a ring. Most times, they will have a lot of paperwork to do if you slide off the hill, so they'll usually back you up.

In any case, you have the truck and the key. That puts the responsibility of your safety (and that of others) in YOUR hands, not theirs. If you feel it's unsafe, then it's unsafe. Don't let dispatch force you into something you can't take back.

 

hey bud, i live in md. only place that has snow is way out westeren MD garret county area.so take it easy. all from the bad storm we got few days ago..i know hagerstown and frederick are clear and 83 to pa is clear.no snow..be safe and go slow if you get spoked.. roads shouldnt be to bad though...

 

first post... wondering when i would make it...

you earned the right to deliver the load, so more than one person believes in you.
the most important is you believing in yourself. deliver the load - slowly and safely.

what goes through my head is right now a pilot is concerned, somewhere in this big world, about landing his plane and passengers. right now, some dr is doing a transplant and concerend. right now, some 16 yr old is going to work tomorrow at subway for the first time and concerned about their first day and getting the meat and bread correct... what unites us all is the awareness of the situation we are in, together yet apart.

when over-confidence comes in, or worse - no awareness, thats when mistakes are made the most.

go onto "your zone" and deliver that load safely. BUT... dont forget to enjoy the ride.

 

Alot of great replies. One thing ill add is your confindence level and skills for bad weather driving will build up with time and experience. Dont rush it, it will come. Just focus on being safe for now. Drive your truck, dont let others (dm/fm's, supertruckers, 4 wheelers) drive it for you.

 

Driver, you got some great advice from others on this thread.
Living in Green Bay all my life and plowing snow for a living for 15 years has taught me one big thing that I use everyday. Sloooow down a bit and drive with in your means.
If you don't have much experience with winter driving, that's the best way.
You will learn weather conditions over time. You will know if the road just froze over or not. Light dry snow will ice up the drive tire part of the road, but drive a foot over in the light snow and find the traction. Things like that will just come in time. Don't worry about any four wheelers. They will be upside down and on fire all over the place. So to speak.
Happens every snow fall.
I think that is why Wisconsin and most midwest states have big ditches along the road. Not to collect snow and rain, but to capture out of control vehicles. lol
just my two cents

 

Couple of quick things(only skimmed posts--sorry if Im redundant)--
Keep your window at least cracked--you can hear the difference between running on water and ice--
Also and this is very truck dependant--Check your miror mounts regularly they WILL start to freeze BEFORE the road surface--I know many of the newer aero trucks w/plastic(etc)mirror mount do not show it as well--but it is a very good sign your are runnin into trouble--
And especially as a Rookie--but good for all--STOP--get out look around--many time you can get fixated on the temp and your own feelings--get out and feel how cold it really is--see what is going on--get A FEEL FOR THE ENVIORNMENT...
Oh and as for 70&76 sucking--c'mon--Pa pike is one of my FAVORITE roads in the country--skinny lanes--steep downgrades--tight curves--too bad I can't afford it anymore!! LOL
Just my $.02!

 

I run from my area across 322 so I can avoid alot of the hills, I don't like paying to lose time when I can go just as far, as fast, for free.

I'm all about making good time, I ran the oil field in PA and WV for a year on some pretty twisty roads and can appreciate the fun of driving the twisty roads but it just isn't cost effective to me, 322 runs down through the valley's and there is pretty much only 1 steep grade the whole way out to Harrisburg.

 

Ok buddy, I am with you on this one. Saw your plea for a confidence booster and flashed back quite vividly to my first experience with "winter weather" just this past month, and thought I would add my two cents.

I noticed that none of the people who responded to you have less than 5 years under their belts...
Begging y'all's pardon, but I have to wonder if you really remember the icy (pun intended) dread with which you faced your first snow storm or iced over road. I also have less than a years worth of experience and have been worried about what winter months might bring my way. I recently found out in a most unpleasant fashion.


The first thing I would like to point out is that you will NEVER, EVER, EVER be able to do things the way that the "supertruckers" do, so do not even try. Its sheer dumb luck and the grace of God that has kept them alive this long. As one poster pointed out, try it and you just might be the bonehead who ends belly up on the side of the road, scratching your head and wondering how in the blue blazes it happened...if your lucky enough to walk away from it.


Plus, you don't really want to be 'that guy', do ya?


Back to the point. My first bit of unpleasantness showed up at the top of an 6 or 7 mile 6% or 7% (can't seem to keep it straight) stretch, at the top of what very much appeared to me in the middle of the night as a giant mountain. North of Weeds CA. It was either I-5 or I-15. As i approached the weigh station I noticed that it was snowing, and before I could get through the weigh station, it had begun a full on blizzard, or so it seemed at the time. Add to this the fact that it was night, the wind was blowing the snow in sideways (very disorienting), I was fully loaded and had heard countless horror stories about this particular stretch of road, and this was to be the first time traveling it.


I pulled in to the parking lot to check the weather on my phone and see if I was going to be heading into it or out of it. It said I was smack in the middle of it. Decision time: wait it out until the snow stops and the road is in possibly worse condition, or head on down and hope for the best.


Put the truck in gear and crawled out towards the road, alternately cussing and praying. Snowing even harder now, nothing but curvy steep blackness in front and 44k behind. Deep breath. Still the shaking hands. Try not to focus on the sideways blowing snow, look straight ahead, get off this #### mountain!
I start driving, apply my jakes, they don't come on. Panic attack. I have to be going faster than is comfortable for me in order for them to work or be in a lower gear than I am currently in. Unfortunately, I cant take the truck out of gear at this point...gotta let it run faster than is comfortable or risk smoking out my brakes.
That was unnerving enough, then my team mate pops out from the back and says to me (with a distinct note of panic in his voice) "is that just the way the wind is blowing, or is the truck sliding".


Cue complete freakout. I absolutely panicked.


However, I also knew that I had no choice but to keep going. I kept my movements and braking as smooth as I possibly could and prayed, the whole time, all the way down to the bottom. I had no choice but to use my jakes, even though thats apparently a bad thing in the snow. I thought careening down the side of a mountain with no brakes a worse thing.


Suffice to say, I made it off the mountain.


The second was in Ohio about a week later, this time it was not so much the snow as the 55 mph gusts of wind that came along with it. Every time I tried to accelerate back up to a decent rate of speed, I would again be slapped by the wind. At one point I decided that I could not continue to crawl along at 45 mph, flashers or no flashers (always flashers btw, always always always). I sped up and no sooner did I enter a curve than a FedEx double came up to pass me and...sure enough, the wind blew me into his lane, more than halfway. I still do not know how we did not tangle trailers. He had to have gone more than half off the road to avoid me. That was enough to convince me to settle in to my 45 mph and get ready for a long, long night. This decision was borne out but the number of cars and trucks I saw off the road that night, and the number of tracks of cars and trucks pulled from the sides that we saw in the snow the next morning.




Long winded I know, but the point being....take your time, slow down, use your flashers and DO NOT let the other trucks or cars dictate your speed. If your scared, unsure or panicky, your more likely to make a stupid hasty choice that could end up tragically. After all, its your life. No load is as important as your life. They will still need it when you get there. Remember, if you lay it over, it will never get there.




Just know that you are not the only one out there who is new and not just a little freaked out to be heading into winter driving. At least your not too busy being macho to admit it.

 

i was going to post the same advice about listening to the truck wheels on the road. and, overall, i think that is really good advice. when i drive a four-wheeler, it is a golden rule since you are so low to the ground. with a tractor, remember the window cracked! also turn down the radio (or off) and CB. that really helps you focus on your vehicle. the fresh air always helped me remember the situation is cold, wet and real-time.

but we live in a time of "extreme wearher". there was one storm i drove in that did not apply to the listening rule. it was the duluth, mn ice storm of 2001.

the area was bombarded with a heavy storm that caused all the radio and television stations to be knocked out, power lines and trees to just snap, rivers to flood... i was driving the north shore of lake superior all day. the temps were kept above freezing due to the lakes warmer temps. slush was accumulating on the roads next to the lake, inland, well, that was a whole different story. 2-5 miles away from the lake made the difference.

the "heat bubble" of a city or traffic will cause the same occurance. one mile you are okay, the next, you are on that nasty layer of ice. this is some of the same principle as bridges freezing before the road.

what made me not post the comment was when i shut down for safety, i returned the truck to base 20 miles inland. like mentioned, the storm was giving different conditions away from the city of duluth and lake superior. after driving all day in the rain, slush and sleet, i topped thompson hill and the road was still "wet"; however the wet was on top of the slip. there was a fine line between the undercoat that i passed right through. it literally was raining ice. i had the sound, the spray, everything... it was just was not perceivable by sound or sight on the rigs wheels. it was ice falling from the sky landing on the interstate, slightly warmed by the cars and trucks only to re-freeze with in a minute of no travel. where i parked was cover in 1-2 inches of ice.

20-30 miles was a difference of 2-3 inches of ice.

i moved west with a non-trucking job a few years later. i thought i knew winter driving (and snow) until i lived on the mountain at 7000'. so here i am, ready to run again after ten years, and i am freaked out about driving the rockies. i am a new driver again with ten years experience.

another really good point to remember: every load, every trip, every single day -- you are a new driver.

there is one solid, always correct winter suggestion: slow down or stop. experienced or not. four wheels or eighteen.