CHAINING...are you ready?

Agree to a point....Chains are to get you out of trouble...Not into trouble...

But lately and not just due to moronic 4-Wheelers....Drivers too.....Various DOTs have been calling for chain control with the ribbon barley glazed......

I know from experience...That you can drive in snow up to your bumper........But now...It's "Chains when it rains" basically at Vail and Donner...

 

As I've brought up before, how long are you prepared to sit and wait out that "chain law"? At least 5 times last winter it was up for more than 4 days over Vail/Eisenhower, where do you plan to park and wait it out? What happens if they lift it, you roll, and 30 minutes later that put it back up because someone was a little overzealous and caused a problem?

Something that makes me wonder, last winter I saw a couple of empty flatbeds that sat idling in the chain-up area on WB I-70 for 3 days waiting on the chain law. What do they do for A. food? B. beverages? C. waste elimination? D. cleanliness/hygiene? Also, do they make arrangements for someone to deliver fuel to them when they run out or low?

 

On an aside.....I was running E/B out of Eisenhower/Johnson when I spotted a CRE rig smoking like an old Navy Cruiser throwing out a Smokescreen.......The driver was going to go to the shoulder and I got on the radio told them to keep going and drop it a gear or two and let those brakes cool.....
I pulled along side and the driver....Was a nervous wreck.....

I told her that she had another steep grade down to Georgetown and to just take it easy......

Uh....Don't the Megas have any training for going down the grades in the right gear?

Oh yeah....She had a Shaker.....No engine brake......I see this not only with CRE rigs but Swift and Werner as well....What's up with that?

Why would any carrier send a driver in the Rockies with a rig sans the engine brake?


I sure hate to see what's going to happen in a few weeks......
Knowing CDOT....After that first snow....They'll make us "Throw Iron" at Loma.........

 

They put the cheapest crap they can on the road, and unless a newb draws a good trainer they don't find out about coming down a grade safely. That is why my carrier keeps them on training trucks as long as they do... so they'll get a bit of everything. Except maybe winter driving now, and I think that's a bad deal for everyone.

Here's a reason to shutdown... nervous nelly DOT cops putting up chain laws on just wet roads. Wait until there's enough snow for that iron to dig in.

 

Sounds like a super trucker, willing to do what it takes, when common sense drivers find a safe haven. Keep doing them favors and miracles, and dispatch will keep giving you those critical loads with no time to stop. Enjoy having no time to eat or shower!

Just takes one time during severe weather, to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, black ice, stupid drivers, etc. Then your out of a job, while the fella that sat it out is still employed and eager to get some miles done when the roads clear.

Chains get you out of a snow storm, not into one.

 

We're not supertruckers. We just know our limits.

Being from Colorado, you either drive in worse conditions than most people ever see in their lives, or you can just put your wheeled transportation into storage for 9 months every year. You tend to get to know where those limits are a bit better than the folks who dive into a truckstop at the first sign of a snowflake.

 

Beat me to it, IP!

The idea that some of us comfortably drive all day in conditions that would park others just doesn't seem sink in. I guess it's the ego thing, anyone willing to continue must be foolish, rather than acknowledge that another driver has a broader skill set. Whatever it takes to look in mirror in the morning, I guess.

 

Now...I'm not for CO....But I sure as Hell love it when September comes.....My rates go up as the "Summer Drivers" head below I-40.......

 

One of the few times I was "concerned" was that last storm that hit in early June....I was about to chain up just before heading out of Wheat Ridge at the pull off...DOT canceled the Chain Law...So I headed out...No problems running up to Floyd Hill or to the Divide....But going down that last grade to Vail...."E" Ticket ride....The Wagon wanted to "Kiss" the tractor.....

I had to run down to Vail way...Way...Way...Way....Slooooooooow........

About 1" to an 1" and half of ice here and there all the way down.....