winter driving advise

Along with not using your jakes, do not use cruise control either.

 

All you other guys pretty much nail everything i can think of. The only other thing i can think of is that when you start out and get the truck moving idle it away in a higher gear to get the truck moving. In lower gears in slippery conditions you put more torque on the drives which translates to wheel spin. So to prevent spinning start out in a higher gear than what you would normally start out in.

 

Can anybody tell me how to handle a semi- when it skids on ice?

 

This thread may help you out with that question. Ice, ice, baby!

 

When you see spray from the tires you probably have traction no spray slow down

 

Winter driving advice?

How about, don't drive down the middle of the bloody highway just because you can't see the lines on the road.

If you're that scared, or unsure what traction you have, don't drive 20 mph on the Interstate either. Do us all a favour and park it. But this time, how about picking a spot out of the driving lane.

Oh yeah, your high beams don't give you any added traction (especially at 20 mph), so how about you dim them when you're being passed.

Just a few examples of last night's idiocy.

 

this is probably the best advice. NOW.....for you veteran drivers of 105 years, If you happen to come up on a truck going 35-40, and you can still go 55-60, dont give him a hard time on the CB. S/he is driving as fast as they feel comfortable.

i have driven in some snow, but it really didnt amount to much. The question is, say you are loaded....you weigh 75,000lbs, someone told me it is no different driving wise when compared to dry pavement. It only really matters when you need to stop.

I know the biggest things are no jake/cruise, give yourself plenty of distance, and slow down.

another big question i have, say you are downshifting and breaking, and you start to see your trailer coming around. All you do is let off the brake..MAYBE bump the fuel for half a second? What do you do if every time you start to brake, the trailer wont stay behind you?

 

If you can't brake w/o the trailer stepping out (and you're not braking too hard) , it's too slick to be out there w/o chains. Your best option is to get out of the wheel tracks, they are the slickest portion of the road (a warm rolling tire is an inefficient Zamboni.) Just a slight shift into the marbles will often give enough extra traction to allow braking.

Then you better hang some iron or find a place to hide out a while!

And never stop directly in the tracks when you catch a slick road backup, either. It's not much fun to be the new 'cause' when everybody in front of you drives away, leaving you spinning in futility.

 

So, is that also true if ALL the traffic is doing 35 except for those few hot shots?

Sorry, but making a blanket statement like that just doesn't work.

What I'm telling my students if to follow the "white knuckle" rule I stated earlier and if they have to slow down well below the speed of traffic then get off the road. I have found that most of the traffic seems to wind up slowing on as well so most of the time you aren't causing a problem. Going faster than you should because you don't want to make a few hot shot drivers cranky is just as bad as being the hot shot driver.