Descending icy/snowy grades

No matter where you go or what kind of driving job you have there will always be cretins. Most of them are too stupid to know any better. Drive your own road.

 

With shutting down for a storm I've found this in the past few years.

If the road is open your going to run into some knuckle head that will jack knife and close it for you if the road really is that bad.

If it's not that bad ie you could get by without chains then run it, chain up and don't run faster then you want to wreck.

If it's bad but it's a short pass go for it, you will probably get through before someone screws your day up.

Mostly it's about the math, if I'm going into a chaining situation with a fresh 11 I go, if I'm left with 3 or 4 hours and I'm only going to get 50 miles I'll call it a day.

 

What's it doing on the mt? That depends, it changes every 10 mins. Knowing the road in front of you makes all the difference. Put the miles in & do your best. Thanks for keeping America going.

 

The best time to shut down is when you do not feel safe. Different people use different yardsticks. If I am getting a lot of ice on the mirrors, it's snowing too thickly to see, I start seeing a lot of cars and trucks going off the road, or I feel my drives slipping when I change gears, I get off the road at the next opportunity. DOT may be getting ready to close the highway anyway. Might as well put yourself someplace you can use the restroom and have a cup of coffee.

Unsafe conditions aren't just what affects you, they are also what affect other drivers. I've driven through snowstorms, took it slow and easy, gave everyone plenty of room and I was fine. If I see a lot of other people aren't handling it well, those are all people who might slide into me or cause the pile-up that happens right in front of me. If your gut tells you to park it, park it. No load is worth your life.

Food for thought --




I shut down maybe 4 days last year. That number is skewed a little because I had mechanical issues from running a 2nd hand truck the previous drivers did #### to take care of. When I was temping earlier thus year, I had all of one snow day because I-25 was closed at Monument. I was on I-35 when all that Patricia flooding was going on. I was supposed to go from Laredo to Dallas Friday night, but I stopped in Waco because water was ponding on the highway and people were already getting in wrecks. Dallas was pushed off until Sunday. I came into Rockwall on decent roads.

 

I would go with "wait for the plows to come by".
I read about many complaints about the 70 going towards/coming from Denver, but felt that was one of the safest places to drive in wintry conditions.
You'd figure with all the ski resort traffic, those armies of plows aren't there just for looks.

Now winter driving where I've been for the past, three years, both milk-hauling places "I've been at/am at right now" don't employ chains(not provided, and no real grades to speak of.
TX DOT I thought was also superbly good when it came to snow clearing these past, few winters I've dealt with out here.
But in the event it does get bad enough, we're basically just told by dispatch to "wait it out" until daylight conditions and then get home(I'm local in the sense that the dairy I do now is 220 miles/each way).
There's been talks about getting a sleeper for that run, but until then, head up to Perryton 10 miles away and get a nice, cozy room.

 

If I don't feel safe, I park. But road conditions aren't a good yardstick to go by in my area. I run the Great Lakes region, hauled tailfeathers on snow pack at pretty close to full speed and been slipping and sliding on a dusting of snow on the roads.

It ain't just the amount of snow, but the type as well. You can get that nice, heavy snow that gives you decent traction (provided you have decent tires), or that small, hard stuff that is more ice than snow. Learn the difference, and how it affects your traction.

Mountains are a whole different animal in winter. A clear road could be hiding a patch of black ice half way down. And black ice is a killer, plain and simple. For me, black ice is proof Mother Nature hates me, and wishes me dead. The old hag hasn't gotten me yet, but she sure keeps trying. Kinda like an ex girlfriend or two, actually.

Take your time, take a hard line with dispatch when necessary, and remember the most important rule of winter: surviving is winning! Drivers with many winters of safe driving under their belt are worth far more than "fair weather" drivers who hang up their keys every November and stay off the roads until March. That vacation is for the old timers who have nothing left to prove.

 

Those big pile ups happen even when the roads aren't slick. That one that happened on I40 east of LR was on dry road. That big 100+ car pileup near Charleston,TN was in the fog. That 100 car pileup at Dalton,GA was caused by fog (and a cop running radar).

I was running south on i35 in Texas this past summer, middle of the night. Hit the construction. Northbound traffic stops in the single lane construction. Some driver plows into the back of another truck, and both the truck and trailer exploded. Would you believe that cars and trucks still came plowing into each other? I can't imagine how they couldn't see the fire from miles away.

So we were running southbound, flashing our lights, trying to get northbound ears on. "STOP! Do not go into the construction! There are a few vehicles on fire and emergency crews will not be able to reach them if you clog up the construction zone!"

What kind of idiot would plow into a burning semi? The same ones that plowed into each other in the snow. What are you doing so that you can't see a burning semi at 2am in the morning?

On those snow and ice pileup videos, I'd bet money that some hand was on the radio shouting warnings 5 minutes before they got there. And they just blindly drive in and crash. I'd wager that if you had a bridge fall, didn't stick a barricade over it, but put sign 10 miles back that the bridge is out, you would have trucks drive off into oblivion. And you hear drivers crying about their pay. If you are a moron behind the wheel, you will get moron behind the wheel pay.

 

It is amazing how people drive,,
I should say don't drive,, yet transport themselves in an automobile!!

No awareness of their surroundings at all
Or any comprehension of how long it takes to stop or steer!!
It's really rarely a problem of road condition but more often
A condition of the "Moron Behind the Wheel" Problem!
Honestly very very scary.