This is what happens when you don't SLOW DOWN in bad winter conditions

driving thru tuttahanook (sp) in pa a few years back

clear sunny day, cold, all of a sudden, a squall comes in, for about 1 mile you could not see anything, dumped about 2-3 inches, truck was losing traction, it was basically a mini blizzard

after that mile, it was sunny and clear

now, when you enter that squall, you dont know how long its going to last, i cant imagine truck driivers all pulling over (there was no shoulder (i think its route 6 or 11))

people push thru, thats the reality of how we live work and play

and sometimes, pushing thru may cause accidents like what we saw here

it happens, not often, but it happens

 

Luckily though, if the boss calls you in the office because you parked the truck when everyone else was still running strong, you very likely won't be working for that 'wrong' company very long.

 

Not working for the wrong company beats chancing a wreck, especially in our modern CSA driven, legal vulture, minefield of a world.

And generally, any 'safety break' due to weather would be done in a parking lot or a truck stop (or on an on-ramp if it was an out-of-the-blue case like a band of lake effect snow in Michigan)

 

Was listening to the cb yesterday coming back through Atlanta in rain/fog, it was enough to make you hop off the accelerator just a bit. Turned up the cb when I heard cussing...thinking there was an accident.

Two drivers where cussing out a supertrucker for not having his lights on. Between the fog, rain and the fact that it was getting dark... Takes a special kind of idiot to drive like that.

I have also noticed something about the weather. Seems that as the amount of stupidity seen in motorists increases, the weather takes a turn for the worse. Since surely people aren't being more stupid because of bad weather, it must be that the weather is affected by stupidity!

 

Oh and I am curious. Those of you who say that you need to pull off the roads of you can't do the minimum posted speed, what's your reasoning?

I ask because minimum posted speeds are set to be followed at ideal or better conditions. You obviously wouldn't go the minimum speed in standstill traffic as it's not ideal.

Otherwise I, to a degree, agree with you. If I can't safely go the minimum speed then it is time for me to get off the road. I would follow that, not because I don't feel safe driving in those conditions, but because others can't drive in those conditions. I'm protecting me. While I like to make forward progress, I have too many things undone to handicap myself.

However, if my safety or well being is a concern if I stop (excessive cold, bad area, ect) I will press on but only at a speed I am comfortable at. 4-ways on as needed.

 

I'm waiting for everybody to get scared and park so I can get some work done without worrying so much about stupid trucker tricks!

 

i know this is a few days old, but i just saw it. yeah WAY TOO FAST for conditions...i didnt read everything..when that Pete hit, i almost threw up...seriously....u could see how deep in he went. other than the R & L no one else even seemed to slow down...i mean it was like they didnt even see it....how awful...most likely could have been avoided if everyone had slowed down, or at least not as massive.

as for the whole CB thing, yeah , years ago, i would say you would get told of something like that up ahead, but now, not so much. bottom line tho , YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ATTN and not driving too fast, you dont have to have a CB. yes they can be helpful, but nowadays not many will even respond to you or tell ya whats ahead.

 

There comes a point where you have to decide if your time is better served pushing on, or taking a break and letting conditions improve. And there's no hard and fast guideline for where that point is. It depends on the weather forecast, it depends on the time of day, it matters where you are geographically. If conditions aren't expected to improve anytime soon, it's usually worth it to push on. Same thing if waiting means traffic. It's much like the decision to chain up: If it looks like the chain law will come down in an hour or two, have lunch and wait it out; but if it's a 2-3 day stretch of snow like hits Donner on occasion, hang that iron and go.

Sometimes stopping saves you time, sometimes it doesn't. It's one of those things experience teaches you.

 

While there may be a TINY bit of truth in this......what you are NEVER gonna hear is
"don't sweat it-I KNOW you were just trying to get the load delivered On Time and and keep our customer happy. So lets jump in my pick up and run down to the Peterbilt dealer and spec you out a new truck, to replace the one you just tore up."

 

Not for nothing but if every trucker pulled off and parked anytime they couldn't safely do the posted minimum speed, Detroit (and several other auto makers all over the country) would not be able to produce a single automobile between December and March. They might as well just close all the factories down if that were the case.

I had a dedicated run hauling auto parts between Chicago and Southwest Michigan for a long time and I ran the stretch of 94 regularly. The posted minimum on 94 is 55mph but I can't count the number of times 35mph was about all I was willing to do on it.

I suppose I could have just shut down all those times instead of running slow like I did. But I also suspect that if I had shut down each and every time I could only go 35, my company would have replaced me with someone who would have kept going OR my companies customer would have replaced my company with another that would have kept going.

We all want to be safe and we all want to get home alive. But the just in time manufacturing model is what it is and like it or not, shutting down production lines every time the supply trucks shut down instead of pressing on at 35 on the interstate isn't really a part of that model.