Winter driving do's and don'ts

If you plan on doing the speed limit be prepared, tie all the junk in your truck down because when it gets rough all the loose junk will become projectiles and you are the target.

 

Being in Colorado and watching the changes of the last few decades watch for the ones who can not make decisions on time and stop in the worst places, check your airlines under trailer are tied up good, they get a bit heavy in slush and drag so duct tape is handy if you lucky and not break line.

 

And walk to thy bathroom. Sometimes it's cold enough to frost you, then it dies and CHOP. That's no fun. Im not talking about 30 degrees. Try -55 with the wind at 50 sustained. (You are not going to find that anywhere in NOAA, it's what the Century's temperature sensor was reporting one cold night in South Dakota while fueling.)

If everyone in a big rig is off road and parked, what are YOU doing out on the road? Your load can wait.

Mr Freeze is really bad here in the south. It's tough waiting for Mr Drip to know when to get going again. Idiots like me keep moving on ice.

On ice on say US79 east of Memphis when you get to a bridge on a slope and or a curve, do NOT allow a car to get on the low side of your trailer. And do cross at idle only lowest gear. EXPECT your trailer to slide down and rub the rail, which itself should be iced and lubricate the thing with no damage. DO NOT stop or you too will begin to slide to the rail. You will never get off there until the temps come back up to 34, that might take a few days.

I ran a hundred miles of that road at every bridge returning from a Bacon Shipper in NE MS one day. The Arkansas roads were dry when I got there. But I was finished for the day anyway after a piddly 150 mile drive at 2 mph. it's ridiculous. Ive actually allowed that tractor to move idling on that bridge stand on my passenger fuel tank hollering at the 4 wheeler SHOO [Badword] gtfo away from that #### trailer before you get crushed.

Talk about CRAZY.

Now my favorite subject the west. When Redding CA says I-5 to Medford is closed on the Sisters I believe (I forget the proper name of that pass) they MEAN it's CLOSED. Make yourself at home you will be there a while. Don't be stupid and run out that way, because you got 10 feet plus drifts covering that interstate up there.

 

Speed limit is set for ideal conditions, not snow & ice. Had you refered to the MINIMUM speed limit, I'd be in full agreement...if you can't safely run the minimum speed limit, you need to get off the road.

 

On a change in weather during the change from wet to frozen plus backwards, is the slickest time. watch what is happening with the spray from the tires, when it starts getting less it is freezing.

 

I was going to cross swords with the speed limit poster.

Sometimes it's suicide or murder to be on the road at all. I always lean to safety. I once crossed Seven Mountains on US 322 in three feet of powder snow and no jake. That powder was very good in cooling my brakes all the way down. But it was not fun. And that mountain pass is the one I adopted as my own. I'll try anything on it once. The traction situation getting up from the west was really a problem. I found myself trapped at 1400 RPM in any gear and cannot shift because it will cause that rig to slide off the road or break traction and follow gravity into someone else. I did not like that too much not having options.

Fort Bridger is the one I fear most. Either direction. Westbound would be what bothers me most on ice. That was a new form of concrete paving and throw in ice with any sort of liquid and SLIP! down you go taking out everyone all the way down.

I rather not. I know that I have stood tall when it comes to mountain driving with a semi, but once in a while Mother Nature has her way, and YOU stay put. Wait a while.

 

And your mirrior. The old west coast brackets will tell you that ice is in town when it begins to freeze as does your wiper arms. If you have no spray at all.. I hope you have had a enjoyable life, nice knowing you.

 

Learn to use the power divider properly. engage before the crap hits so you can power out.

 

11 and 17 in northern Ontario, the only 2 main routes up there, where jazz1 is from, are far different from your multi lane interstates...
There is no minimum posted speed. Max 90kmh (56) for probably 1000 miles. 1 lane each way with only the occasional passing lane or suitable spots to get by where you can see far enough to safely pass. 1 nervous driver doing way less than the posted limit with vehicles stacking up behind often leads to a stupid passing attempt then the wreck that follows. There are no detours so the road is just closed until they can clean it up. Which sometimes takes a day or 2, towns are far apart and wreckers are farther apart.

So ya, the comment about if you can't do the speed limit then gtfo the road might sound a bit... over the top. But you gotta understand where it's coming from.