How well do you do on snow/ice roads?

The problem I had last week was on 61 in IA. It was snowing and there was ice under the snow. Trucks were sliding off the road and some could not make the hills. It would blow sometimes and be a total whiteout. Only problem was you could not pull off the road. You did not know what was on the side. Only way I knew where the road was is because of the little fence post along the side of the road. When you came to an exit you could not tell where the ramp was. I did not want to ditch the truck so I kept going till I could get off the highway which happened to be the town I needed to turn in.

 

Living in the North East I have been dealing with Ice and snow all my life, and I guess I am one of thoes people who feel comfrtable with driving in these conditions, the problem is with the level of comfort of the other drivers around me, thats when I will wrap it up, when I see cars and other comm vehics, hitting the ditch or rail, I run at night so sometimes I can just go and go and not see anyone for hours, usually will pull off at first light when the non nocturnals come out.. I am not one of thoes fast snow ice truckers though, I get passed all the time, but in the long run I see them all in the rest area after a while, my new truck has traction control, which is nice, if not for anything els it sets off a warning whenever a wheel spins, so I know for sure now what is under me,, I also have super singles for the first time,, These I thought would be the end of my snow running for sure,, But I was wrong and by quite a bit. They actually have been real good and stick quite well in all conditions, I have gotten out of 10" of unplowed driveway empty, I was amazed. Also do alot of job sites and they have yet to let me down,, I have been driving in these conditions for 17 years now and am 100% accident free, I think that is because I keep it slow b ut steady, never been stuck on a hill either, (I run the North East) so yeah I have hills, but also I think allot has to do with that I love these type conditions, I never get tight when sliding or anything, and when it starts I get a good feeling, I know what some are saying what a loser, but really I love it,, I bet there are some other snow lovers out there, from the blizzard of 78 generation, god I will never forget it , we lived on RT 27 in stoughton Mass. by midnight on the first day of the storm we had 10 people from their cars staying at our house, and they were there for 3 days, and left by snowmobile, cause their cars were took away to a school lot. I was 8 years old, and had to crawl home from school on my stomach, where did thoes storms go, never seen anything like it since.

 

I just take it very easy. Drive to the roads condition and always leave a safe following distance. I am on a 24/7 call-out status for storm damaged areas (lights out) the only thing I can opt out on a delivery is due to road closures.

 

I am also from the North, but last night I was driving Bob Tail in a unfamiliar Truck, I went slowwww and steady. I know that the cars behind me didn't like me. but I was safe. The biggest thing is go a safe speed. I was on secondary roads last night with LOTS of curves. So, I went about 45 with blowing snow but not much accumulation.

 

I remember being about 10 yo that year and walking to school during a ice storm. It seemed odd that now other kids where outside but my mom shoved me out the door and off to school I went. I got home about a hour later to tell here that the school was empty and the doors where locked.

 

A related question: My state (CT) adopted a law a few years ago that requires drivers to remove the snow from their roofs, hoods and trunks before going on the open road. This law applies to tractor-trailers as well. How the heck do you guys (and gals) get the snow off your trailer roofs?

 

I saw a guy in Chicago last winter do it by driving about 65mph, when the wind gets under it, poof, its gone. The chunk of ice then went straight threw the windshield (not just break the windshield, but penetrate it) of a mini van that thought it was a good idea to follow a truck at a cars length or two.

Maybe that's why they make it illegal and give drivers a ticket. But like you, I'm still trying to figure out how to get on top of a 13'6" van that is covered with snow and ice. I guess we all have to carry ladders now and hope we don't fall off of or through the trailers.

 

Some companys are installing ice bridges at their terminals now, but thoes who dont have one, or if you are picking up a droped or spotted trailer, You don't nor can You, most light weight vans have either fiber glass roofs or thin aluminum, there is no way it can hold some one, and if you did manage to get on it you would just slide off at the slightest angle, there is really no safe way to get it off, without an ice bridge, snow has been blowing and smashing cars on the interstates since the beggining of transportation history, fact is it really isn't that big of a problem, there are some incidents eacvh year but nothing of an epidemic level.

 

I would have thought with that kind of heat there would be no blizzard!