How well do you do on snow/ice roads?

Thank goodness for rumble strips!

 

running the patp (penna turnpike) at least twice a week gives me plenty of chances to eyeball some silly driving skills...

"I know my truck is slow - but if I pulled the mountain 4 miles back better than you - dont try and pass me on the next one..."

yesterday there were no fewer than 7 accidents bbeing cleaned up on the patp. the best - and most gruesome was westbound at mm 87 - a white freightliner century class tried to pull a skateboarder halfpipe manuever in a big rig.... I sat and listened to my headphones for 2+ hours while they dug him out of the mountain side.

what was funny about it all was the number of guys who climbed into their sleepers and did not wake up when traffic started rolling again...

man - we were going past these guys blowing air horns and all - but there was no movement - a jb in the hammer lane - 200 yards later a bowman in the slow lane - then 300 yards a flatbedder in the hammer lane...



anyway, lots of accidents and carnage the last 48 hours out here.

same stuff every year (I guess the first weather of the season always slaps me with a reality check and a bit of fear towards the newbies and the careless...)

 

ever-

This picture describes what the roads looked like half of our training a Roehl in the last couple weeks. I've been out of a truck for the last 11 years and just getting back into it. But ####, I dont want to get jumped in again this way!

 

Today has been the nicest, warmest day we have had in 2 weeks... a whopping 5F (-15C)... oh and did I mention, it was sunny for the first time too, and everything was sparkly and beautiful! Jack Frost had been by and had written all over the windows too!

 

It wasn't too overly bad in that pic. It was icy, but I still had comfortable traction the whole time even with an empty truck. It was enough for some drivers to park though.

Last winter we had one day where I'd be driving at 40mph and any attempt at accelerating past that caused my drives to slide sideways. I had driven over it the first time loaded, and was fine, but it was almost undriveable with an empty truck.

 

Yeah, they drive like maniacs in PA, I saw this one up on I-80. Just happened to have the camera on at the right time.

 

I love the snow and cold weather, snow on the roads doesn't bother me a bit. We have got about 4 ft of snow up here, and I love it. I've driven in plenty of extreme weather, snow storms, ice storms, living up here you just kind of get used to it. Sure you have to slow down a bit, but a little snow is nothing to get scared of.

 

Driving in snow and ice is one thing, off loading a low-bed with a D7 Cat in those conditions is another whole ball of wax. When I was in Germany back in '82 it was the coldest meanest winter Bavaria had experienced in 50 or so years. We were on maneuvers and had thirty low-beds with D7's with no ROPs mind you. All of the trailers were encrusted with ice and everyone had reservations about off-loading the dozers. Anyways this Butter-bar orders the platoon to off-load and this private panicked over the stupid #%# order. He quickly learned what a Combat off-load was...he backed up the dozer and his foot slipped on the left brake, off he went sideways down.
Good thing he remembered to buckle-up or it would have been ugly.