Highway Thru Hell - From TV ....

Discussion in 'Canadian Truckers Forum' started by Pullin2, Sep 5, 2012.

  1. Pinner

    Pinner Medium Load Member

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    Feb 14, 2010
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    You guys really need signs to tell you chains are required, FFS, think for yourselves !

    I just watched that show and my thoughts are ...what a bunch of dumb ### drivers. The new Canadians seem to cause a hell of a lot of damage, just in that first episode probably millions. Sure those lazy unqualified drivers work for cheap, but everybody is paying for the carnage...think about it.

    The main tow truck guy said it was very common for the drivers to leave the scene...WTF? probably no licence ? Why would a driver leave their truck on a hill because they spun-out ? He said it was very common... A CVSE officer helping a guy chain up...please, if I was that CVSE officer I would have gone through that guy's truck and paper and fined him right back to where ever he came from. Frick I'm glad I work in the north !
     
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  3. cliochannel

    cliochannel Light Load Member

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    Dear Pinner. Yes, it would be helpful to have the signage at Hunter Creek give folks info ahead of time. And not because the truckers who use the Coq constantly "can't figure out chains will be required." It is a matter of choice. With advance notice, one can whistle up the canyon and over to Kamloops via Cache Creek with only about an extra hour time. No lost time with chaining at Box Canyon, or getting slowed down by idiots who try it barefoot anyway, or motorists spinning out. It would allow motorists to take a safer route, but hey there are those wild adventurers who figure they can handle anything and will try the Coq regardless. The Coq is deceptive with the milder temp and rain at the bottom-sometimes that means that you will still have rain at the summit, sometimes you are in one hell of a snowstorm. People should have information ahead of time so that they can decide on the Canyon or if heading to the Okanagan whether they want to get to the connector via Princeton-Aspen Grove, or go through Keremeos to Peachland. In most cases if you break down on the Coq in winter as an owner operator, you will pay not only for the wrecker to take your truck, the company you are working for will charge the cost of the wrecker to take the trailer, back to you. And that can be a bill of 1400 bucks with either Quiring or Davie. And then again with the spotty coverage for cells on the Coq anyway, if you get in trouble you may have to wait 2 hours or more for either Davie or Quirings to get up to you-if they can. Things can be so bad that they may not be able to get up until conditions are better. Lots of time to turn into a popsickle while you are waiting. The truckers in my family, hubby, brother, cousin would like to see advance signage at the bottom because it makes sense for the commercial traffic and the general public traffic. Especially when folks figure at Xmas they just have to drive over the Coq to go spend Xmas with grandparents somewhere. Brother pulled over to help a stuck family one winter and piled the three freezing little kids in his sleeper to keep them warm while family was waiting for help to come. The Coq takes you to an elevation of 6000 feet in a very short distance. The maze of steep valleys that angle off it can change wind and weather in strange ways that creat fast and ugly conditions. But if you have not driven it in winter, come on down and try it out:)
     
  4. cariboo_kid

    cariboo_kid Medium Load Member

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    Yeah, it's a matter of not having any idea what road conditions are until after you are committed to the coke. Not just a lack of info available, but sometimes misleading info suggesting conditions are good until you are past the point of no return...
     
  5. itsneversafe

    itsneversafe Light Load Member

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    Aug 16, 2011
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  6. Tank33

    Tank33 Medium Load Member

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    The show definitly isn't as pathetic as Ice Road Truckers. Ice Road Truckers just makes me mad when I watch it. The ice is tested daily, sometimes multiple times per day. Trucks go through IF you stray off of the path, but if you don't, you probably have a better chance of being hit by lightning than breaking through. I think it was the second episode of this years season, they showed the trucks driving through a large puddle on the ground. They kept saying it was the melting river ice, even though it wasn't even on a ice crossing, it was a puddle on a low spot of solid ground, so fake.

    Another episode they were following a truck and the guys trailer locks up and slides out to the left. What did they forget? The brake lights on the trailer came on. Obviously, they had the driver yank down on the spike, and do a controlled skid to add drama to the show. There was also ANOTHER episode where Jack Jesse was hauling a pipe shed up the Dalton. It's basically a big sea can with one side open and the other closed, so wind catches inside. They were saying the wind blew inside of the shack and lifted one side of jacks wheels off the ground. When you watch the clip, you can see Jack Jesse fiercely swerving his steering wheel back and forth through his daylite door on his T800. He purposefully made the truck rock like crazy, and than they say the weather did it.

    The truth is, it's fricken boring running up north. Is it dangerous? Of course. Does stuff happen ALL the time? Not even close. They have to create drama because the truth would never sell. 98% of trips would be the camera filming nothing going on and listening to satellite radio, and that's about it.

    The coke. The problem is not the road itself, it's the drivers running it. I would say 80% of drivers on that road, are unskilled, steering wheel holder immigrants. You can take offense to that if you want, but it doesn't change the truth. These are people who have come to this country without a lick of experience running in the Canadian environment, or even driving trucks at all. Accidents happen because the days of a professional being behind the wheel of almost every truck you see are long gone. 30 years ago, 85% of trucks had a skilled, professional, good man behind the wheel. Today the numbers are flipped, 15% are professionals, and the rest are steering wheel holders and nothing more.

    Personally, I would like to see truck driving become skilled labor, a trade. You should be watched and scrutinized by a pro for 4 years, just like in the trades programs. You can't install a simple electrical plug in a house without being watched for 4 years, but get your licence today and tomorrow we will turn you loose with 100,000 pounds of steel and rubber running in bad weather conditions....makes a lot of sense.
     
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  7. cariboo_kid

    cariboo_kid Medium Load Member

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    That is a fine attitude to take with professional drivers, but cars could use the info too. Do you really think everyone should be required to have an Internet connection to use a bc highway? Remember we are talking tourists who won't know about that web site and the elderly who may not be comfortable with technology using this road as well.
     
  8. itsneversafe

    itsneversafe Light Load Member

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    Victoria BC
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    neither would be in a vehicle that needs the info like a semi. most cars can make it through the coq in anything short of a blizzard in which the high roads would be closed allready. but more importantly you asked about info on the roads before you headed up and that site has been around for a few years now. I used to use it to check it for road closures on Vancouver Island before I headed to Campbell River in the morning.

    Without the toll booth how and where do they close it now? It's been years since i went up there
     
  9. Prairie Boy

    Prairie Boy Road Train Member

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    Nov 18, 2010
    Edmonton, AB
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    There's a petition circulatong around Alberta at elast to have drivers considerred SKILLED and be Red Seal approved by the Feds.



    I'll find a linkand post it.
     
    Speedloader Thanks this.
  10. Tank33

    Tank33 Medium Load Member

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    A lot of times it gets closed by the accident that happens, that becomes the road block. I can't remember where those barrier arms are installed at, but it's only a few locations, and the stretches between them are pretty long.
     
  11. cariboo_kid

    cariboo_kid Medium Load Member

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    I'm not sure where they close it as I had checked and knew it was closed last spring so took the canyon.

    I was going through hope in my car last winter and signs indicated no severe weather so I took the coke. I have decades of winter mountain driving experience and it was a white knuckle trip. Brand new ice radials and the slightest touch on the brakes left me sliding, white out conditions and of course I was passed by surrey heros running b trains with no chains as well. That is the trip that got me griping about their info delivery setup. Only after passing the last turnoff did signs warn of danger ahead.
     
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