Jacknife on Black Ice.

Sounds like a BS Company.Sit for a month? I hit some "Black Ice" ,last winter. It's No Joke.I usually utter something like"You think you can do my job? You can have it!!,and throw keys and radio etc.

 

I thought this was a movie review for a Wesley Snipes vs Steven Segal straight to DVD movie. LOL!

 

I had been in certain storms that stick in my memory. I sometimes forget that I had managed to get through some of these storms of the ice kind when no one else will do it. That results in one of two things. I suffer a big head supertrucker syndrome which is really bad to have or I get damaged after a certain amount too much of ice and refuse to drive on it anymore. Enough is enough. A little sliding does not bother me any. (Yet it does...)

I choose the middle path. Im not afraid of stopping somewhere to allow the sun some time to work on that ice. Im pretty certain even Mighty Paul Bunyan slipped and fell on his bum that the Good Lord gives us all now and then for that purpose on bad enough ice.

It is a ongoing thing, every time there is a storm, I pick up coverage on mass wrecks in which people do get hurt and sometimes do get killed. I have to shake my head and say... what is this life we lead in such a free country that we must suffer and die to be trying to get from here to there in a storm that says you aint gonna for a few hours or a couple days. What is this work we die for needlessly when it's good to wait a moment for things to become safe again.

 

I actually enjoyed his material on the big screen when I was younger. But after a life time learning about the real story behind the scenses it's a changed opinion. Maybe it's best that it went straight to DVD towards obscurity. Like many of my posts when people get upset enough and fail to go straight to the ignore dialogue box and start typing tired old flames to try and get my goat LOL.

 

It does sound like an early 90's movie title. As far as jacking on black ice, there is no excuse anymore. Smartphones and general common sense regarding weather shoulda kept you parked. A few weeks ago I-10 was shut down in Louisiana over the swamp. 20 degrees and rain is all I need to know. Better a short check over a last check.

 

I mean.. There is no excuse anymore for experienced guys.. But I feel sorry for these new guys going through company sponsored truck schools. They put them out there and the dispatchers show no mercy. I hope they all just make it through the first year so they can go to a company that actually cares about their drivers.

 

True to an extent, sometimes **** just happens though. The road can be in great shape seconds before that tiny "wrong place wrong time" section you're on tightens up enough that you go for a ride. Knowing when to shut er down and knowing how to keep it straight when you could almost clean your tail lights from in the cab are most of it, but it can still happen to the best of us!

 

Whatever you care to call it if a vehicle is towed away, you have a hazmat spill or someone is injured it costs you CSA points. At fault or not don't count a bit. That the police didn't show up certainly gives a company an opportunity to fly by night, but I doubt many reputable companies are going to find that a worthwhile gamble. A tow truck did show up and recorded all the necessary information. I had a driveshaft separate, puncture the gas tank and that's a hazmat spill. The police never showed up because they were never called. The company had one hell of an incentive to not make that hazmat call, but there's the small problem of that tow truck. It was trivial, like 4 points, but it still got reported without the police ever being called.

As far as super truckers I was running Louisville to Nashville winter before last during that huge snow storm that buried DC. All three lanes clear all the way across Kentucky. Still running 55 MPH just to not take any chances. No one passed me all the way across Kentucky either direction, didn't even see another vehicle. I come up on the Tennessee line and three trucks run past me, owner ops, Peterbilts, lights everywhere you could stick one. They fly on past me. I hit the Tennessee line and the ice is an inch thick. The lead truck was off in the ditch on the left. The second truck was off in the ditch on the right. The third truck made it through but came to complete stop in the road just past the ice. I think he hit a car coming off the entrance ramp because I don't know where else that car came from or why you would just sit on the road with no hazard on. I joked after that supertruckers are good for marking where the icy patches are. Thanks to them I was down to 40 mph by the time I hit the ice but still had a hell of a time stopping before hitting that third truck.

 

There are only 2 circumstances where CSA points gets issued. The primary way they get issued is if a CVSA/MCSAP/DOT certified officer is involved and they issue a long form with violations on it. Tow truck drivers don't report to the Feds. A hazmat spill is serious I agree, however CSA points are based on violations listed on the long form issued. The other way points get issued is very rare and it involves direct reporting by states. So NO cop NO CSA. This subject has been brought up many times in here. Most of the people that post in here has seen the links posted linking to these answers. Then after many times posting them I just grow tired of the continued posting of them.

Edited to add this FMCSA Power Point file.

To read this file without MS Office you will need this free reader. I recommend EVERYBODY look at this!

 

Ya...And the infamous Tommy Lee Jones!