winter driving

Much good advice, and probably some bad as well.

I am glad I am entering trucking going into the winter season. I will/should/hopefully have a mentor that can teach me correctly in these conditions.

I can drive a car in those conditions rather well, but my last accident was when driving on an iced up road. It can turn from hazardous to treacherous in minutes. All it takes is a rainfall just before freezing temps.

 

Once your talented/exp., you can chain up a single axle in under 10 minutes, and both axles in under 20 minutes. Forget those spider cords, carry 2 21" bungies per tire with 4 extras, a minimum of 2 t-bars (3 is preferred, you'll never know when your gonna "lose" one in the back window of some moronic 4-wheeler), chain boards may seem sissy, but they are #### handy.

Labor Day week, I pull all my chains off the truck (they are carried year round anyhow) and inspect them for broken/missing links, hooks, etc.. Then I rehang them carefully, I keep all my bungies together in the side compartment, my t-bars are in the same spot. My chain boards are strapped to the cat-walk, someone stole my shovel, and kitty litter is never on my truck. Even though I may use my chains a few dozen times a year, I still pull them off a couple of times during the winter and inspect them. I have co-workers who have stolen my good chains off my truck and replaced them with their broken ones when they don't feel like telling the boss how many links they tore up.

 

I always fix a box with extra food and water,extra blankets ,batteries and anythings i can think i might need if i get snowed in somewhere.

 

I've had a truck start to jack knife pulling along the T-Can heading for Winnipeg. There was about 12" of snow over the freeze/thaw that happened earlier. No where to stop that was safe. We had a line of about 15 rigs all doing 20 Kph with our hazzards on. Snowing like a SOB and cold as all get out with the wind chill. Took my foot off the throttle (NO JAKE IN THIS WEATHER) and felt the rear of the tractor start to go sideways. Got back on the fuel and feathered it nice and gentle like. Saved the whole thing from going in the ditch. Scared myself silly.

Called the trainer who ran the simulator at our company the next day and told him I didn't need the jack knife sim training I had asked about earlier on since I jsut experienced recovering first hand. LOL

 

12" inches of snow and deep cold is great for traction. When it is +5 to -10 C is when it is slick.

I find the colder the better.

 

Normally that is what I expect too. Just, all the fresh snow over fresh ice made for a bad driving day.

 

I heard one technique when spinning is to push the clutch pedal. Never tried. How long do I keep my foot on the clutch? Do I release it slowly? What should I expect to happen when I release it? Should I do it if I am going down a hill or in a curve? Is there a video somewhere showing how to do this?
I am afraid of making matters worse. I am just a rookie, have already experienced spinning, slidding sideways on ice a few times last two winters, almost lost control of the truck twice and thought was going to jacknife, scared the hell out of me.