Driving Truck in the Wind! Need help!

There is that common sense thing, again.

Had a message come in today about the high winds around my area.
A couple trucks had been blown over along I-35 in MN. 45 mph gusts can do that if you are light and the wind is from the side.

I have only 7.4k in the box. 3 pallets is all.
It is a south wind and I am going north, so a tail wind.
No problem until I get to Des Moines, IA to a section where it will be a direct cross wind.
So I shut down just before that, to avoid that.

Trip planning also means taking into consideration the weather conditions.
Just common sense.

 

In 35 years of this business I've learned.
1.i don't take #### from dispatchers.
2.i don't take driving advice from dispatchers .
3. I dont take weather forecasts from dispatchers .
4. And I don't take medical advice from dispatchers.

 

Swift does not have dispatchers.

 

Exactly. That's why I never left Ontario yesterday. I saw what the High Desert was like coming down in the morning with a 40K load and knew there was no way I was coming back through with a 15K load.

 

I don't have a lot of tips for you since I don't drive OTR and can/will straight up refuse to tow empties when it is windy. But I can say

You aren't them, don't worry about what they are doing, do what you are comfortable with.

 

I pull over when winds are high enough to cause hand or arm fatigue, not worth it anyway.

 

From my observation most people are getting tired steering because of:
- use of both hands
- mixing cab tilt, movement with truck's
- over steering
- jerking the wheel, instead of slow "turning" motion
- not having "fixed" position "arm/wheel"
- holding wheel too tight
- using whole arm instead of "wrist steering"
- over pressured steer tires
- - anyone else?

 

And
That person you see cruising along may not be doing so because of experience
It might very well be a brand new driver with no clue

Had a driver who was Florida call me one time going through New York
Said weather was horrible and roads really bad
The longer we talked it became evident he also had his cruise on.
He had no clue that was a bad idea

 

I was dealing with that little tornado in temple, tx the other day. I was pulling van empty. I too get nervous in wind! I pulled over about three times to duck the movement of the storm. Plenty of cars pulled over behind me each time. Most people are nervous in the wind, nbd!

one thing I do if I’m in high winds is I ride with my rpms around 17-18ish just in case I feel that trailer move hard to the side, you can give it a tight pull forward to fight that sideways movement.