Take note, driving on ice is serious stuff!

This is painful to post. I have never had a chargeable accident. Been hit a few times but always the other parties fault. I have two tickets. One for 5 mph over on US 23 in Michigan one for 13 over on the old US 24 between Toledo Ohio and Fort Wayne Indiana back from when it was all two lane. Both tickets are old enough they could legally buy you a drink. Over 3,000,000 miles out here. I’ve only been on a hook twice for something I was responsible for. I’ve been towed a few other times but it was always because of a mechanical breakdown. The first time I was on a hook for something I was responsible for was in 1991 on MSR Dodge between the port city of Dammam and Hafar Al-Batin Saudi Arabia. The other one was today. Private yard under 15 MPH limit on what turned out to be a skating rink. Ice is serious business. I let my guard down a touch and this was the result:

Luckily only cosmetic damage. Winched out to the tune of 500$. Inspected by our house shop. Dented fuel tank and bent step. Trailers first section of pipe knocked off. Lucky they are held together with hand clamps. One clamp broke. Injured pride but no other issues. I got really lucky. Be careful out there guys, it’ll get the best of us.

 

The bumper is cosmetic. It was in a yard with a slight incline towards the ditch. About 1/2 a truck width to my driver side is the driveway out. Headed toward the drive the yard was a slurry of mud rocks snow and the ice tried to bear left towards the drive ice gravity and the incline of the yard towards the ditch did the rest

 

Some companies may call it a chargeable accident or incident but I run for good folks and they didn’t make a big deal about it. Several other drivers had similar issues with the ice in several locations with the storm. So no nothing being put down and no disciplinary action