Winter Driving Stories

This quote is what really upsets me. Its not the first time you said it either. You must have not had anything to do if you went around to every single driver there to find out what they were doing right? Or did you just make an assumption based on the fact that these truck drivers were at a truck stop?

You have no clue what those guys were doing so there is no reason for you to make the assumption that you're a better driver than them. How many of them do you think could have been stopped to call their 6 year old daughter because they are smart enough to know that the winter weather could reach out and grab them at any moment and they might not ever see them again?

 

I still don't get what the skills are? You two cowboys are the ones saying you have skills so WHAT ARE THEY? Just because your more comfortable driving fast in poor conditions make you a better driver than people taking it slow that have half a Brain that understand despite all your hard work blowing everyones doors off you might gain a half hour or so. There is good reason no is on bored with what you two are saying. But I'm sure you'll have some smart ### insulting come back.

 

Really? I have to spell it out for you?

What's a truck do running in deep snow? It moves around, sometimes a lot. After you've driven on enough low traction surfaces, you learn what is just a slip and what is worth worrying about. That applies to mud, sand, snow, or even just plain old slippery pavement. And so you learn which movement is because you're too close to the traction edge and which is just the truck adjusting to the differing road conditions. You also learn to tell the difference just by feel. I don't have to see to know my trailer stepped out, it can be felt. So a movement that frightens a less experienced driver is noted as just an adjustment by the more experienced.

Something else done due to inexperience is the instant off the throttle when the truck does move. Vehicles are more stable under power, and oftentimes the sudden change in power causes further instability. A reduction in power, yes, but dropping off the throttle isn't usually the best idea. There are times when a small amount of wheelspin is beneficial, and learning to ride that fine edge takes practice.

And that brings up the key to all this: PRACTICE! If you don't know what a truck feels like when things start to get loose, when it happens you are screwed. When I run into crappy roads, I check to see just how slippery it is. Grab the johnny bar, and see how much braking it takes to slide the tires. Mash the throttle coming up a ramp or out of a rest area, see how much power it takes to break loose the drives. Once you know those things you can adjust your speed, your spacing, and your overtaking speed differential.

And then you drive like your throttle (and brake) is a thin sheet of paper attached to your shoe. Doesn't mean you can't use them to make fairly substantial inputs, it just means you ramp them up and down with a fine touch. It is very much the same as how an experienced driver steers: It's done by feel, and it's never a jerk. You might be surprised by just how much power you can put down if you don't shock load the drives.

There is one more thing, that if you grasp the idea, can you help better understand what is actually happening at the tire/road interface. If you could see the traction curve of a tire, you'd see that it is fairly linear and shallow as you build up towards the limit. But once you pass the adhesion limit, it falls off dramatically on the other side. It's something most of us grasp intuitively to a certain extent, i.e. slip a little, lose some grip; slip a lot and grip is gone. But it is helpful to actually be consciously aware of this, to understand what is happening at the tire, and how that is affecting the overall handling of your truck and trailer, to know what is an insignificant slip and what is fixing to be a big slide.

I've written on here in couple places about this stuff, sometimes in depth. The response is usually "Yawn." So you wanted skills, there you go! Forgive me for being a bit of an ### about it earlier, I guess there's just been too many times where it's been read, the eyes glaze over, and all I get back is "You're driving too fast!" Funny, since most of them don't even know enough about driving to even be able to make that determination.

I've been at this a long time, and a lot of safe miles, and a bunch of avoided accidents. I've been in the ditch one time in all those 3 million plus miles, and I put it there on purpose, to avoid t-boning the oncoming trailer of an idiot of used his johnny bar to try and slow on an icy road in order to make a left turn. The wrecker bill to pull me out of the drift was far cheaper than what it would have cost if I'd have busted through his trailer, and I'd make the same choice again. If I'd have been in anything but a carhauler, I'd have likely made it back out on my own, another 20 feet was all I needed.

And I now return this programming to what is most likely to be the same ol' refrain. And most likely further affirmation that it's a waste of my time to venture out of the social threads.

 

OK I don't drive a truck, but I have one question...

Do you (whomever "you" may be), drive your car better now than when you were 15?
Need I say more?

 

I'll have to say that after sitting back and reading the repartee' the last week or so, with ramblingman and Hammer166 touting driving far more "on the edge" than the balance of the TTR membership...

... I've got a healthy amount of respect for anyone that's earned some serious off road or bad conditions "chops".

It begins by taking on challenges that make you uncomfortable and progresses until you are able to relax while being attentive. Taking your rig out for a few rev's to see how it breaks out of ice, how it skids, etc. is just like learning to drive in any vehicle. Take it to a safe place and play with it. Many's the time I found an abandoned parking lot and did Brodie's in my car, learning to come out of a fishtail, how to get traction on an uphill slick start, etc.

The one thing that ramblingman has stated, which he since walked back a touch, that made me very concerned was the idea that in order to mitigate his exposure to hazard he likes to drive past slower drivers at a high rate of speed. This is wrong. Whenever overtaking another truck or car I try to take that pass in a controlled manner a few miles an hour faster than they are traveling. You do not know the driving abilities of the person you are overtaking. There is no need to expose them to wind blast or fear just so YOU feel better. Make the pass in a manner that helps the OTHER driver stay safe.

 

Yes I asked you to spell it out! I guess what you concider "skills" I call just driving knowing my truck things that just come natural with driving. Hope your ####iness doesn't come back too bite you.

 

OK I don't drive a truck, but I have one question...

Do you (whomever "you" may be), drive your car better now than when you were 15?
Need I say more?[/QUOTE Na been pretty good from the get go!

 

One last word then Im done here. Its been my experience that the ones that get away with the risky driving habits for years and years are the one that eventually really screw up BAD one day. If you pay attention to news about truck crashes it tends to be the 20/30 plus year guys that have the big ones. Stay safe and away from me!

 

You, Driver, are the type to stay away from. ####y from the get go...

 

It was cold, it was snowing, the road was icy, the end