Wind? Please take warnings seeriously...

I guess the rule of thumb is, if you failed math then park it if you have any wind...

I drive in the wind the same way I do at the helm of a sailboat. Have soft hands on the wheel/tiller and feel for the gusts. Sluff off in a gust to maintain course. Be prepared to steer upwind or downwind if the gust gets too strong. In really heavy wind then reef the sails or throw the anchor.

 

Seattle to Boise was a scream yesterday - central despatch decided a non urgent 6000 lb trailer and an empty was a good idea.

Wife unhappy at 35 mph in places . . .

The wind has always been my least favorite weather phenomenon. I'd rather have ice.

 

I wonder how many got up on 9 wheels and then set back down.

ATA wants bigger sails for you box yankers. Better hold on!

 

This is from another thread, but because this is a wind thread I wanted to put a reminder in here:

Slide your tandems back in extreme winds! It's more stable.

 

When in the wind I keep an eagle eye on the trucks in front of me and how gusts are affecting them just before the gusts hit me. This really saved my butt running I-40 westbound just west of OKC last year. There was mild wind, but we were approaching a column of rain beside the freeway. All of a sudden the truck about 10 seconds ahead of me got walluped hard as he came abreast of that column, almost getting blown off the road. I checked to clear the hammer lane and signalled to start changing lanes before I got to that column of rain. When the wind hit me it knocked me back into the slow lane. It was likely a microburst.

 

There are KNOWN wind shoots across Wyoming, where the winds are funneled together and increase in strength. One that really catches people off guard, is I-25 south of Cheyenne, from the Port of Entry to 2 miles south of the Colorado/Wyoming border. It is NOT the local geography that causes the problem, but wind rolling off the Rockies just a short 50 miles away... And when Wyoming puts up Advise no light trailers, and you roll over, it is a citation, and you get to pay the state for the cost of responding to your accident.

I-25 north of Cheyenne, Bordeuax exit 70, local terrain
I-80 From east of cheyenne to Rawlins there are 23 wind funnels... Look at the 511 maps and click on the weather stations, they were all placed due to the frequency of the winds.

 

You are 100% correct....... and I agree with you.. be smart..

But these companies push these guys with low wages and a 14 hour clock they can't stop.. and the mindset it won't happen to me.. Until we get sensible regulations that allow for unforeseen problems... Like weather.. people will push it through this type of weather event..

Once again I agree with you.. but the regulations create this type of mentality to push on through..

 

In this case, Colorado had a High Wind Advisory up from Wellington to Wyo. and Wyo. had a FULL CLOSURE from Cheyenne to Co. State Line, it's guaranteed those three got tickets. They ignored Wyo., which I bet the drive Cheyenne to the State line on that bridge over the train tracks was a fun exp., then they ignored the electronic sign board, 500 ft So. of the state line which told then it was a high wind advisory, so they screwed up.

I suspect, in a few days or weeks, we may see one of them show up about rolling a truck.

 

Thanks for the tandem input. I was wondering today...AS I GOT SCHOOLED on wind AND ice. It happened exactly as I suspected it would.

1.) empty 53' trailer going across HWY 14 SD/MN in sustained 25-30 mph wind on icy road.

2.) At about 25mph..the ###-end of the trailer just did it's own thing & started coming around. I steered thru it & got it straightened back out. Limped on until conditions improved. Prolly stupid on my part.

3.) wish I could've come back the same way to see how many guys going the other way were in the ditch.

I won't do it again for certain.

 

OK!

"For all you know they just drove off the road due to incompetence. Doesn't it seem odd that of all the trucks on the ~same section of roadway, God only acted so drastically upon a few?"

You know, I wonder about that too. Something happened for sure, but why those particular rigs? I posted earlier about gusts, and they're real and isolated, but that's only one of many possible reasons. Too bad for the drivers, and for the companies if they're hired hands.