Good night from...

wow...frustrating snowy slick roads day.....dropped load at lowes in no vernon indiana...on wedensday...pu a t series trl doors wide open no problems with it (i thought anyways)..and accepted plan for upstate ny to get ahead of this storm,,,well went to go get loaded and water in the trl....so load was reschediuled for today so i could get the trl fixed...of course that puts my right in the middle of the storm now....and super light load...8000 lbs....went out in the morning and didnt think it was too bad...until i hit unseen icy spot....no cars around to see spray...and i could see spray at times from my trl....i hit the icy spot...and oh man!...felt like i was floating....weird feeling...backed of on the throttle and thought ok....better be real conservative today....backed up to the dock got loaded fast and out of there...but icy and snowy roads around indiana(state hwys) until i could get on the big road..into cincinnati...and up into ohio...but heavy snow from columbus on I71 to the 271 split to cleveland.....but all of a sudden....ohio aint taken care of the road now!...wtf!...allready dark icy road...then i jacknived....my trl lost traction...and she took off!....wow....i backed off the throttle...had no steering control...not even sure how i got her back under control,scared the crap out of me thats for sure..i was going to bypass a rest area ahead...but i said thats it!.....but cooled down my tires....keep checking them to make sure my brakes dont ice in the morning.....i think the problem is 2 things....this is a weird wet snow....temp is right around 30f and my trl is so light....hope swift is understanding and REALLY means what it says about pulling over if you feel unsafe conditions to drive...we'll see....

 

I had lots of cars spun out...tow trucks heavy traffic and police on the side of the road today too....this is just a weird wet slick type snow....i been in way deeper....snowpacked roads....frozen roads with at least some traction...but this is slickest i ever seen it....

 

What a difference a day makes. Finally left out of Osceola this morning and nice roads, at least until I got to MO. Then alot of snow packed in the right lane until I got to Kearney. Then it was fine the rest of the day. Now in Ardmore. Nothing on Mac 30 to get home, and no pplan. Come morning, if no pplan home, it is going to be a very long b/t home. Promised the wife the her first XMAS here, we will be together. Guess that my DM forgot about me today.

 

FR8, nice job keeping it on the road. Surprised that you have not taked the SIM class for skids, or did you. The trick, take foot off throttle, and point the truck at a spot in front of you and just keeping steering towards that spot. SWIFT is very serious that if not comfortable and the roads are greasy, get off and park. Received a message from our safety dept this morning, it is alot easier to tell the customer that the fr8 is late due to weather then telling them that their product is all over the highway.

 

Yeah...thanks...the first slip was just a little one..figured it had been a while since i had those type conditions....the second was taking up both lanes....trl sideways...loss of control...i think i counter steered...and foot off throttle real quick...and then she behaved again....i know i freaked out people behind me ....

 

It can be a very scary feeling. Been there and done that. The last time that I started to go into a skid, it was my steers doing the skidding, losing traction on I-70 in MO. The trailer was fine. The one time that I put it in a ditch, I had no control. Was mt, and it was a little windy. I had trees blocking the wind. Started to cross a small bridge, ran outta trees, and a gust of wind and road became ice and I was spun 180 degrees down an embankment. Still kept the truck upright. The trooper behind me could not believe it. He told me that what helped keep me upright, when I spun, my trailer tires hit a curb and kept the trailer str8. So I just went down the hill. Now that was a scary feeling. The nice thing, the trooper did not even right it up. Said that it was a incident beyond my control. The company at the time, they wanted to write it up. I wrote a statement and gave them the phone number of the witness, MO State Trooper. they called him, and that was the last that I heard of it.

 

you think it is becoz i am so light ?thats why she acting squirely?

 

It does not take much with a lite trailer. Many years ago I had almost 45K on a trailer and snow packed roads, and had to hit the breaks, and started to watch my trailer come around. A little tap on the trolley breaks, and all was well. A little slick, maybe thow in some wind, and question, was the trailer running str8 or was it tracking any?

 

if you look at your left hand palm down...my trl would be in the thumb position and my truck would be in index finger position...now tilt it about 25 degrees...thats the way she was going down the road sliding...for about 2 seconds...i steered towards the shoulder..but was taking 2 lanes...let up on the throttle...happened so fast....cant even believe it now....and after i parked.....kept thinking i was sliding backwards in the rest area...maybe i am traumatized?

 

I'm glad you're OK.
Good instincts.

I've been in a few low speed slides, but never had my trailer come around on me.

As others have said, Swift is serious about safety first.
I've shut down many times when conditions got too much to my unliking, and many times before I drove into those conditions.
If I see a high wind warning posted and think I might be too light, I shut down until the wind does the same.
I've had qcom messages and even phone calls asking if I really need to shut down, but never have I been penalized in any way for staying shut down.

I've never had a load that I thought on-time deliery was more important than anything else.
I don't usually haul anything that is going to immediately save someone's life upon delivery. (I think, anyway)