Winter Driving

Nothin to it but to do it!

 

When we're paid by the mile....how does our pay cope? We get less pay, I imagine?

 

You won't have to worry about pay if you have a accident, saw way to many accidents last winter, no load is worth a life

 

When you start to see no more spray coming up off the tires of cars in front of you and making your windshield messy the temps are dropping and the road is freezing.

 

Yep, extra space. Extra patience too. No sudden moves.

Be extra careful on ramps, the main road may be fine but the ramp can be slick.

When you park on hard packed snow and your tires are hot you can have a heck of a time getting going in the morning.

Snow can stick to your lights making you invisible. It can stick to your airlines and weigh them down. It can stick to everything and put you over weight.

Snow plows, give them lots of room. The crazy moves those guys must see!

Big trucks can be intimidating to 4 wheelers. Add bad weather to the mix and people can panic. Take extra care not to scare Grandma in the Olds, even if she is going ridiculously slow.

When the road doesn't seem that bad and you're rapidly catching up to a line of slow traffic assume there's a good reason they are going slow. A few years back I came up on a line of traffic moving real slow in a snow storm. I decided to ease up until I got past the bend up ahead that I couldn't see around. As I got near the bend I saw the State Trooper half in the left lane and half on the left shoulder around the bend, attending to someone who went off in the ditch. In my mirror I see super trucker coming up fast in the hammer lane. He didn't have his CB on. He saw the Trooper and was able to stop it in time, the pick up truck behind him didn't have a chance. Fortunately they just bounced off and went into the ditch. The point being that don't drive beyond what you can see takes on extra meaning in bad weather.

There's a lot of good threads about this topic if you search the forum, look them up. But in a nutshell leave space, be patient, be aware how your actions affect others and if you're not comfortable take a break.

 

Slow down.
Slow down.
Slow down.
Slow down.
Slow down.
And then slow down some more.

If you are going slowly enough that there is a lot of space between you and the vehicle in front of you, you're almost going slow enough.

There is ONE time that I've seen that people were going TOO slowly. Shortly after an ice storm, people going from I-79 S to (then) I-279E to Pittsburgh were sliding down the banked curve of the cloverleaf.

That entire interchange has since been replaced.

 

Also if you have DEF on your truck top it off at every fuel stop the truck stop's def at the pump can freeze up and shortly after they will be out of bulk def. Keep spare, wiper blades, windshield fluid, an extra chain tool, bottle of antigel, and winter gloves. When i use antigel i use the recommended amount but double up below 0° meaning use twice what the bottle says below 0° which 4x what you would use for above 0°. Remember that if you have an apu to run the apu and bunk heater for a few minutes to run it into those fuel lines as well. Download the weather channel app the doppler radar can give you alot of info on weather conditions ie. wind speeds, snowfall, a bunch of stuff. Get the numbers for road conditions in each state. Stay up to date on weather reports and plan your trips by the weather. Youll be surprised at how many times you can out run, route around or other wise avoid bad weather. Run with the cb on though the bad areas others will tell you things youll want to know like when traffic is stopping. Spend the money on proper winter clothing last winter i saw -27°(windchill was -45°) in WY which isnt uncommon. Temps that low can cause frostbite in a little as a couple minutes and are very rough on equipment not uncommon for something to break and force you to have to get out and attempt to make a repair so have the proper winter gear. Lastly avoid running light or empty on slick roads in high cross winds.

 

Slow down and remain calm. I find a speed I'm comfortable at, and go a little slower than that speed. So if I'm comfortable at 45, I go 40 if traffic allows. If you lose traction, don't freak out. And don't ride the brakes

 

Lots of prayer, patience, and practice. Without a high dollar training coarse, winter driving is the hardest to teach/learn. This is because you actually have to make a mistake, and recover from it in nearly every situation in order to learn from it.

• Distance is your only hope of recovery
• Understanding the forces that caused a 'mistake'... What caused it, and corrective measures to prevent it.
• Learn the distractions that bother you most, and find ways to avoid them... mute the phone, rain-x the windshield to prevent iceing, turn down the interior lighting etc. We all have pet-peeves, eliminate as many as you can for white knuckle drives.

 

I always thought Swift and FedEx paid extra for those prime spots.