trucks in ditches

I was one of the hundreds of vehicles stuck on the westbound side of I-20 east of Birmingham. It was one giant fustercluck, and we had to stay on the freeway. Pointless going down a ramp because they were all slick. It's not worth taking a risk and hoping to move along. That's why I think chains are a waste of time. If you need chains, you shouldn't be driving. How far can you go with those dumb things on. Better to wait it out. Just wish the traffic alerts online could be easier to access. I really had to dig for info.
It certainly was an interesting couple of days. But good experience for the future

 

What made the Alabama roads bad was the ice. The storm started several hours earlier than it was supposed to, coming out of Meridian for us. We had more ice crystals than the wetter sleet I think. Our schools closed for the day Tuesday, the other areas didn't. They thought the bad stuff was going to come more from the south and angle up and bypass Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, so much for those thoughts.

There are mountainous regions here, not as bad as some states, but bad enough with ice on them. Talk by people was the roads were so icy they would slide back down a little hill or out of their driveway. If it were just snow I think it would have been better perhaps.

3500 hundred kids in Birmingham area ended up spending the night at their school. One busload of kids spent the night on the bus. Once they and daycares started to close, it put a lot of parents on the scramble to pickup kids adding to the gridlock.

Kudos for Home Depots and other places who opened up their stores for people to spend the night at or to just make food purchases. A lot of private homes also extended the welcome to those stranded.

Atlanta I guess was pretty much the same scenario. A 10 mile trip turned into a 6 hr drive.

If you're on a skating rink, I would imagine any truck leaving the roadway and being on a ramp were the ones who were trying to make it off the road and to a safe place. They may not have realized that the ice was just as bad there or worse and that AL has very little resources available. Heck look how bad IN has been the last few weeks and they do have the equipment and salt.

And winter isn't over yet.

 

http://www.weather.gov


pull up the map and then click on an area, and keep clicking on what is brought up to open the pages, esp if it is in color. It might take 5 pages to find out what the weather advisory is. The other day they posted the Atlanta area in real light pink which stood for a civil emergency and no one was supposed to be on the road except emergency. Don't think they thought about those already stuck on the road.


I used facebook page for Northwest Indiana for some road info. the last couple of weeks. Didn't try to see if AL had one or not.

Also you can use in a lot of states the 511state.dot to pull up their road conditions.

It is still hunt and peck a lot.

 

Good idea about weather online. I'll check that out. I was headed thru MS and found out that 59 was shut down southbound. MS DOT had a neat website that had cameras on the freeways so I could monitor the traffic movements.
Louisiana has something similar but not as good. I wish all states would adopt and utilize cameras in such a fashion so we can get up to the minute news. It's not always that way when you start digging.

 

Trouble with the state by state 511 web sites is that each state has laid out the site differently. Some are much better than others. It would be great if they were all similar with how they present the information.

I'd love to have a way to get an alert once a road closure is lifted. Sitting in a bone dry truck stop earlier this week it was frustrating to get onto Louisiana's web site to see I-10 closed 30 miles east and trucks running eastbound (while also listening to them on the CB hoping they would have parking at the next truck stop). We finally left when the sun had been out for a while even though the closure was still in effect on the web site, but didn't get any delays because either the web site wasn't current or the roads opened while we were en route.

 

The other end of the spectrum about allowing dispatchers to bully you in to driving in bad weather is the guy that is terrified of the conditions but is out there any way. I pulled in to a small town in eastern Colo during a snow storm the other night. I parked in the local feed/grain elevator parking lot. Two other drivers made it their home for the night also. In the morning I unfortunately got in behind a driver that must have been white knuckling the steering wheel and and trying to keep his rear end from biting a hole in his undies. His speed wavered between 15 and 30 mph constantly. It took me more than 40 miles to get around him because the road was very curvy. When I did get passed him I looked over and he was white as a sheet and I thought he may have bent the steering wheel some. If the road conditions scare you, park it. It isnt worth it to g out there. You are a danger to yourself and everyone else.

 

A driver should ignore the bullying of a dispatcher. You just have to tell them, what part of no don't you understand.
It's the drivers fault to succumb to any kind of intimidation. I've never tolerated it and you just have to put the dispatchers in their place. It's up to you, the driver
to take responsibility and drive within your means. In my eyes, there is no such thing as a hot load. If its described as such, I will cool it down really quickly. The customer will understand. A much better solution than to roll the truck and lose your job.

 

and medical field.

 

Experienced my first 'snow fog' today driving on I74 north west of Indianapolis this morning. Several cars in ditches. White out conditions for a dozen miles. Roads were fine before that and after. It wasn't snowing, but more like the wind blew the snow up into a fog. Couldn't see 100 yards ahead. There was a few trucks that were flying passed in the left lane but most people took it slow and steady in the right lane. The road was really icy...
I was waiting for something like this to happen.... http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gEgeCY85848&desktop_uri=/watch?v=gEgeCY85848

 

That's what shuts down roads in eastern NM, the winds whipping around the snow, rather than the snow falling.