Driving on Ice and snow

It's Physics.

I drove a LOT on ice, with both empty wagons and loaded to the absloute limit, and everything in between.

There is a simple formula for this,

M x V ÷ T = 'X'

M is Mass, or how much you weigh.
V is Velocity, or Momentum, forward movement.
T is Traction on the road surface, (mostly little to none).

'X' is how hard your butt puckers when you find out 80,000 pounds of truck won't stop and WILL bend in the middle aiming you into oncoming traffic or into a concrete abutment!

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Absolutely NOTHING will help you if you can't get slowed/stopped before you hit something...

SLOW DOWN!
The slower you go, the easier it is to stop!
If you don't have enough room to roll to a stop (no brakes) between where you are and the nearest thing in front of you on ICE,
Then you are going WAY TOO FAST!

NEVER JAB THE BRAKES!
Anti-lock won't save you, so don't even act like it's there.

Never jump on the accelerator.
I see tons of jack-knifes and slide offs from ACCELERATION,
especally banked ramps.
Once you start sliding sideways, there isn't much you can do to recover.

KEEP THE TRUCK IN A STRAIGHT LINE!
The WORST thing you can do behind jamming the brakes is trying to steer around something sharply on ice!
You have VERY LITTLE traction, and you will wind up with NO STEERING if the front end breaks loose!

NEVER EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES...
'ASSUME' you know what a 4 wheeler is going to do next!
The turn their four way flashers on when they are moving,
They stand on the brake pedal when they are stopped in the middle of the highway (When they should have flashers on, not just brake lights),
They yank the steering wheel and spin out regularly, especially when getting into the lane in front of you!
(and you KNOW they always have to be RIGHT in front of you instead of motoring down the highway and giving you a reasonable following distance before they yank back into your lane!)

They come off entrance ramps and slide right across ice covered roads,

They yank the steering wheel absent-mindedly when they encounter anything on the highway since they are ALWAYS on the cell phone, text messaging, eating, drinking, reading, watching DVD's, ect. instead of paying attention to the road and road conditions!

In December, I counted 104 4-wheelers off the highway on I-64 between St. Louis and Louisville in ONE NIGHT! (ice storm)
I didn't count them all, just lost interest after 104 of them!

 

Just be careful and don't be afraid to shut it down if you have to.

NEWBIES (and anyone): Shippers and receivers, if they have brains, usually plan on weather delaying their shipments in general. So if you have to stop, stop. Any dm or customer worth their salt will understand. If they don't, at least you're still alive and the load is still intact.

And your dac report doesn't care if the weather was bad. An accident on your record is just that. An accident on your record. Which haunts you forever. just shut it down