What would do you in this situation?

Are you running super singles on your trailer? No? Then, keep going.

The lady that took the hit, when you got out to talk to her, snap pictures. Snap pictures of her leaving. Is she didn't want to stay, that's not your problem, just CYA.

BTW, no simpathy for the fuel thing...that's your fault.

 

The tire took out her entire windshield??

 

Tough situation. Between you me and the fence post, I won't put on a trailer drag chain unless sometime forces me too, or maybe over Donner when max is active. Never heard of snow chains making a tire separate from a wheel but I suppose it could happen if they were exceptionally loose and hanging on trailer structure but it would seem they'd bust apart and come off before doing that sort of damage.

Roll your windows down. If you hear exceptional racket, probably need to stop and do something, and if the drives are loose, so too probably are the trailer chain(s).

Sounds like you did all you could do. This has been an exceptional winter in some parts of the west. I try and never exceed 30 MPH with chains. I'll try and drive somewhere between 25 and 30. Dealing with bad to good to bad to good roads is tough and hopefully you won't experience this too often. I study the weather pretty hard when it gets down to the nitty gritty. And I know what states do what and when they don't and if I'm pretty sure it's going to "rough going" for at least the next 250 miles with multiple chain passes, I'll try and park for a 10 and reassess the situation then.

Sounds like you learned a valuable lesson many drivers will never learn who will never run out west. It's a story you can tell your kids later over a summer bbq. And you learned it the hard way but that's ok.

 

Honestly, when it comes right down to it, my health and safety is #1 priority. If I had to abandon equipment for a few hours to fuel up/get help, so be it. I would obviously return as soon as I could. I could give a #### what the company says or does afterwards. Fire me for all I care. I'll have a new job lined up before the day is out.

 

Both? That's different.
Park it in the shoulder, put the triangles out, and put a note in a plastic bag around the crank handle with your info and your dispatcher's name and number. As you're going for help, when you get into telephone range, call the non emergency number of the HP. The trailer will still be there when you get back.

 

What would I do? None of this... I really want to call BS. But, I am sure this happened.

After the lady left I would...
I would pull as far over to the right as I can and turn on my hazards and put out my triangles. I would lift up my hood and send messages on my Qualcomm.

I would use my cb to alert others that I need help. My company uses that road a lot so someone from my company would stop and help me... I have given water and food to other truckers in similar situations. Let them sit in my truck and get warm. Given then a jacket that was returned to the next terminal with a thank you note.

If no one stopped, I would continue on the CB channel 9 for police to assist and 19 for fellow truckers. They can call road rescue... I wouldn't leave my trailers because I know people have had them stolen before and I really love my job...


PS:

In your situation, there were many controllable factors that you blew through. I think leading into a run like that your tanks should have been overflowing... You were less than a hundred miles from your original departure point.

25-30 miles an hour on chains is for EVERYONE'S safety. You are lucky you didn't kill someone with that tire. And the lady leaving was dumb luck, but she could always call your company.

511 is a necessary call... You have to know where chains are required.

 

So, let's start with what you did wrong.

Stop worrying about your miles. I know you want to make money. You are at Swift. You aren't getting rich. You are there to get experience. 1200 miles a week sucks, but it will pay your bills if you are being smart. So get your experience. You don't like chaining? Why not? It's experience. So slow down and do it right.

Always have food and water in the truck. Blankets and jackets and whatever you need to survive in temps down to -25 or -30. Never know when you might need that stuff.

Now, as to what you did wrong with the chaining. You had chains wrapped around everything. More than likely that caused your problem. Your chains came loose because they weren't done right in the first place, they slopped around a bit toward the inside, caught on the brakes or something, tightened up and blew your tires apart and did who knows what other damage. So. Always make sure your chains are tight, and then bungee them. The bungees aren't there to take up the slack in a sloppy chain job, they are there so that if something goes bad the chains pull toward the outside of the tire instead of the inside. Then you leave a pile of chains on the ground like dozens of others did that day rather than tearing up your trailer.

What should you have done in that situation? Put on your high viz gear and flag someone down. Don't get in the way where you might be run over, but wave people down. Someone will give you a ride. I was through that a few days too late, I went through there on Tuesday when it was all cleared up and didn't have to chain until I hit Montana. Nevertheless, if I had been there I would have given you a ride to the next place where you can stay warm, place a phone call, and get some help. Someone would have stopped and helped.

Or you could have bobtailed down the road. Leave a note like triplesix said. You aren't getting faulted for abandoning equipment if you are going for help.