Super Singles safe practices?

I've only been driving for a year. I've only been driving with Super Singles for a few months... during relatively dry weather conditions. Last week I got my first wakeup call, when I was driving on wet roads and the tractor started to 'kick out' from under me - because I had left my engine brake on. Normally, during dry conditions the engine brake doesn't even seem to do anything... but when the road got wet - and I took my foot off of the throttle, with an empty trailer - I could feel the drives break away from the road and slip. Lesson learned - in wet weather, turn off the engine brake.

I typically drive with cruise control at highway speeds. Although I know you are not supposed to use cruise control on wet / snow covered / especially icy roads - I never had a problem with duals, running with cruise control and wet roads. Yesterday I learned another lesson - that could have easily been a disaster - and scared the living &*(% out of me in the process.

It was raining - not heavy, just a steady rain - kind of an on / off mist - that wasn't creating any standing water. It was dark out - with little to no traffic around me - around 5:30 am - when I hit a bump / hump in the road, with cruise control at about 65 mph. The tractor raised up as it went over the hump and took pressure off of the drives... and as soon as it came down - went into a slide to the left. I immediately hit the clutch to release the cruise control, never touching the brakes, and had to perform several counter steer maneuvers to gain control. I could feel the trailer pushing the truck, while the drives slid on the surface of the road. When I finally got things straightened out, I had gone from the slow lane into the passing lane - and really glad nobody was anywhere near me!

Lesson learned - and lucky to be alive, and that things didn't go sideways (literally) to make it worse. I could have ended up in the ditch, the truck could have jack-knifed, another car / truck could have been next to me. So, from now on... no cruise control / engine brake during wet conditions.

I've read that when you're empty / carrying a lighter load, on wet roads - it's best to keep the speed at or below 55 mph, to be safe... which sucks... but if that's what it's going to take to keep that from happening again - so be it.

What really worries me now, is the upcoming winter. If this happens when the road is only 'wet' - what happens when it's snow covered - let alone iced up!? The tread depths are still well within DOT legal specs - so changing tires / treads isn't an option.

Anyone out there have similar stories / experiences to share - or suggestions about how to prevent / react to / keep safe with these tires? Please don't tell me to go to another company or buy my own truck...

 

Well, the tread is worn... but as I said, still well within DOT legal specs. Our company doesn't use Singles on the trailers, just the trucks - so no way to rotate them back. I was told that the tires won't be changed / replaced unless or until they are close to being illegal, by the garage. I might be able to raise the issue with Safety, and see what happens? Hopefully by changing some of the ways I drive is enough, for now?!

 

Yeah, true - but I think it had been raining for awhile, off and on steadily... so it's hard to say if that was part of the problem? I think cruise control and loss of solid contact with the road, caused the tires to lose traction, and essentially hydroplane. In dry conditions, the tires have low resistence, but in wet conditions that means low traction too.