going fast in snow

I'm talking about driving dangerously fast in bad weather. I saw this coming across Ohio and Indiana in the snow storm the other day. Trucks tailgaiting, only one plowed lane, so NO there were NOT "other lanes" available. We've all seen it time and time again. Often, we see these same hot dog drivers in a ditch or median, up the road, but often they get away with it... THIS time. My point is simply that whatever the weather, we can't judge how fast we should go just on what OUR trucks and OUR skills are capable of. We have to be mindful that while we are "professionals", not everyone else is. This is always true, but especially when we have nasty weather.

 

Sometimes the unplowed lanes give better traction than the plowed lanes .

 

a quote from a very wise man " in heavy rain/snow/fog stand on 'er and hope the guy in front of you doesn't chicken out!"

 

visibility was down to about 500ft or so on i81 last week, i was going about 35-40 mph, which was still probably too fast... and #### if i didn't get passed by a rig going 65. i said, '####... i wish i had me some of those xray specs like he has.'

 

Exactly... like he/she has ANY idea what is underneath that unplowed snow... ice, who knows what. And they can see through what other cannot, like what is ahead a mile or so as they fly down the highway praying to God they don't come upon an accident, or some other reason they might have to stop quickly and end up in the median or the ditch...
No load is worth killing myself over, not to mention other drivers who share the road with me.

 

A very wise man once told me after he came off the road driving a big rig for over 25 years.....never underestimate what your rig can do in a split second...thats all it takes to be dead.

 

The way I figure it....They must have better brakes and have a faster response than the rest of us....

 

was prolly one of those new petes with an ejector seat.

 

I thought they had that new fangled collision avoidance system.....

 

This is a good one for me to take a stab at,,(1) We sit up much higher and therefore can see conditions further ahead, (2) we have 10 sets of brakes all ABS in which you only have 4 considering you are in a passenger vehicle. (3)A steady hand and a slow foot can keep a hidh speed truck on track,,ice or snow. (4) Some of us have been doing this for a very long time through many seasons over many years and just have that special skill..Now on occasion you will find Mr Leadfoot hammer down trk dvr a little further down the road either in the median or off jacknifed in the ditch,,,#### happens sometimes,,sometimes you deserve it,,,sometimes an idiot in another vehicle caused it,,I myself drive fast during heavy snow and icy conditions,,Been doing it for 17 yrs and have never found myself wishing i didn't.It comes back to the steady hand nd slow foot technique.I hope this helped answer your question.