going fast in snow

You didn't know that dispatchers are experts at "proxy driving"?

 

Everybody knows a dispatcher is just a driver with his brains beat in

 

I got to our yard one day and mentioned to them that the roads had been really slick coming from another town. The lady informed me that we have many people that live there that work in the office and they had no problems with the drive. I said watch your step when you go out to smoke.

Heard her later talking about how it had got so slick that they couldn't hardly stand up.

 

And that's the deal.

You never know when the road, the condition of your vehicle and it's weight are all going to combine to cause you to loose it. This is a risky business, and enough drivers pay for that risk with their lives every year. You can manage that risk by driving a bit more conservatively in adverse conditions - and even then that may not be enough.

"There is no freight so hot that it won't cool off in the ditch."

- Don Lacey
- Safety Manager, New Prime Inc.

 

"

Truer words could not have been spoken.

 

Well, I've been driving big rigs for almost 20 years now, and I find that I am usually "one of the faster" drivers out there in bad conditions. I rarely find it necessary to slow down to 20-30 mph like so many of the newer drivers seem to do. And if I do find it necessary to go that slow for safety's sake, then it's time to park it and let the plows, etc., do their work.

As has been said, it's not me I am worried about, but what do you do in slippery conditions when the driver in front of, or beside, you messes up? You may not have any options at that point.

I started with a new company just a year ago, and they actually send you Q-comm messages telling you to pull over when the weather gets bad. Everywhere else I've ever worked (including having my own truck), it was "get the load there ontime, no matter what." What a relief to work for someone who actually does care about safety!

 

A few years ago, when I was running my own hotshot car hauler,I was rolling up into Sioux Falls SD it had been raining most the way up from KC and turned to heavy snow. I was plowing snow with my front bumper and struggling to keep it on the road. I was not far out of Sioux Falls and new it would be a safe place to stop if the weather decided to keep up like this for a few days. I had a tough time getting up the off ramp and into the Hook but I made it.

I was fueling up and was talking with another driver. He was bound and determined to get to Fargo ND that night or even Winnepeg if he could. He asked me if I was going to continue on. Nope I am shutting down till the weather breaks and the blades get out on the roads. I parked and went in for a shower and some grub and he was inside. He said he was on his way. I told him my opinion and wished him a safe ride.

The next morning I finally got going about 9 ish or so. 5 miles south I seen his rig in the ditch all mangled up. Top of the sleeper was ripped off and the trailer looked like it had been through a shredder. There were cars and trucks in the ditch for many miles. The road was packed snow/ice and full of pot holes which made it tough to stay on the road. I drove 40 to 50 mph all the way to the North Dakota line were the road pack had cleared up because it had been colder up here and the snow did not stick to the roads.

 

This morning in Oregon on I84 west of Baker City, the roads were slick and icy, on top of the hill west of Baker by the rest area was a covenant truck jack knifed in the ditch with his trailer blocking both west bound lanes, up the road a few more miles a solo truck jack knifed in the median trailer blocking the left lane. then back just out of Baker a landstar truck was jack knifed totaly in the median, they all wound up this way due to icy roads and going a bit to fast for conditions, i was out there the wind was blowing hard and a few times was scooting me sideways on the icy road, talk about pucker factor there and i was going slow and easy, you didnt dare go fast or in the ditch you would go. So go fast if you want and make fun of us slow pokes but we will get there while passing fast trucks in the ditch.

 

The key is not to get too confident.....
The more you drive in those conditions...the more you can determine if it's safe to drive or not.
I'm not afraid of a little slide...what concerns me are the 4-wheelers that lose control right in front or on my blind side.....

 

265 in WB, spread axle trlr, 80,000 lb gross, I let my butt feel whats going on, if I feel the trailer slide or seem to move back and forth too much, I slow down. In CO WY MT and where it was below 0 you could run pretty fast Drifts are the bad thing or freezing rain on I 40 from TN to TX