Driving an automatic on icy roads and taking off on hills?

But not every surface instantly freezes to black ice the instant the air temp drops to 32 F. Even if the surface is black ice as long as you continue straight, don't slam the throttle or JAM on the brakes truck is in control. New drivers have zero subtlety in anything they do. Each action is almost done in panic mode and with any difficulty they just do A LOT more of what isn't working.

 

This thread is literally the first time in trucking I've heard anyone dispute using jakes in wet/icy enough conditions is risking losing control. I never had a jake my first 3 years of driving, wasn't really sure what a jake-brake was, except it was used for slowing. Maybe the only thing I knew was you don't use jake on the ice.

 

Because the original post that brought it up was talking about going down mountains and how loggers always used their engine brakes. And my posts following that are based on my approx 10 years of running the PNW and Western Canada exclusively at weights up to 105k. None of us are talking about flat ground. We’re talking about 5-8% grades or more where going too slow can be just as, if not more, dangerous than going too fast.

 

Black ice also doesn't happen as soon as the air temp becomes 32 F. If it is black road and has been sunny for hours, or yesterday was warm all day, surface will stay warmer than 32 for hours and hours and hours. East of I-35 you almost always have other traffic and you can monitor road spray of vehicles in front of you. Out west there are lots and lots of times & places you will be the only vehicle you can see going your direction. Even then you can see the spray from your drives or trailer in your mirror. No spray MIGHT mean ice.

 

A distinction that I feel is being missed - there's a big difference between using the jakes to hold your speed and using them to slow the truck. I would never use the jakes to slow myself when the road is wet, but I use them all the time to prevent me from accelerating down a grade. As long as the driver eases into it - low, then medium, then high - and is being conservative entering any curves it shouldn't be an issue. Going full bore with the jakes trying to slow for a curve? Yeah, that's not going to work.

 

It's not just in trucking, but everywhere in society, that the rules are being driven to least common denominator. Remove thinking from the equation with black and white rules ruthlessly enforced by clueless cubicle dwellers.

So because snow/ice near freezing is treacherously slick, all snow and ice must be treated as a near death experience.

Same with rain: the first few minutes of rain can be very hazardous, therefore any wet road must be treated as extremely dangerous.

To steer this a bit towards the original topic, such bureaucratic thinking is why the autos have gotten such a bad rap. The few idiots who abused the manual control abilities available have resulted in most drivers being saddled with an uncooperative transmission. Instead of addressing the idiots, let's just lock everyone down.
I've had a fully unlocked Ultra plus 13 for the last three years and while it's not perfect, I have zero desire to ever have to push a clutch pedal again. And that's running the Colorado mountain back roads all year long.

 

While there's validity in your point here, realize that Jakes don't instantly go to full retardation power. It takes a couple seconds for the boost to come up and give full power.

Full power Jakes on clean wet pavement are a non-issue in the higher gears.

 

Because every stretch of road is straight???? In the mountains????

Black ice happens at 35* at night. If there's a wind chill factor. And if the sun is beating down on it. Water at 28* with no windchill factor.

We all drive trucks. We've all seen it happen. Sudden black ice.

Happens alot in the mountain passes. Or anywhere that sees alot of shade.

Sun comes out for 2 hours or whatever. What doesn't dry out. Ices back up.

 

And you just proved the point that it shouldn’t be unexpected or a surprise.

 

This isn't the first thread to debate Jake's on this forum.

There's been a few others.