Spring is something that everyone looks foward to after driving in the winter. The snow and ice and cold just wear a person out. Dealing with coats and boots and frozen brakes has worn out its welcome. Driving in the winter is not “easy” like it is in the spring and summer months.
You eagerly look forward to not wearing coats, boots and gloves. Your thoughts turn to all the things we do in the spring—outdoor sports, lawn care, gardening, grilling out, and the list goes on.
With this change of seasons comes another area of concern for all travelers of the highways – storms with hail, high winds and tornadoes. This affects all OTR truck drivers – just like the snowstorms and blizzards we deal with. Most of the semis have the weather radio and you can also get it with your CB radio. And with many truck stops having the weather channel on and drivers talking to one another, you have the capability of knowing what is coming or what you are heading into.
Sometimes these storms pop up suddenly and you do the best you can. Nature is awesome and scary at the same time. You will be driving in blue, black, green, pinkish sky and rain and wind while still maybe wearing sun glasses, which is really weird. You are watching nature and hoping you can reach the nearest town before you get hit with this storm. The local station is talking about seeking shelter now, even though you are in the same area as the person speaking to you. You do not recognize any of the town names being mentioned in the path of the storm, but you do catch a couple of county names and know you are next to that county. But that does not help you knowing where you are in relationship to the tornado that’s on the ground. You never know how that tornado is moving or growing. If you do not like storms, which I do not, this does not help the situation you are in.
As a professional driver, you should be aware of your location, but after all, you are human. You do know you are near a major city but the announcements are talking about Small Town USA and its just impossible to know the name of every Small Town USA. Its at this time you wish more info would be given, like if you are on Interstate Highway and approaching this mile marker then “get off the highway now and find shelter!” sort of thing.
Once you make it thru this weather and make your delivery, local drivers normally you might return home the same day on the same roads. But your hours are up and you reach a truck stop about 11pm with some rain and a thunderstorm and 30 mph winds. You are tired, and while in the sleeper, the winds rock the truck gently and you are listening to the rain come down and finally drift off to sleep.
Find More At TruckingTruth:
The gang here at TruckingTruth has put thousands of hours into presenting this information for free. Becoming a fan of ours on Facebook (see the "become a fan" button on our fans box on the right), leaving comments, and sharing our site with the Facebook community would be a great way of thanking us and we'd really appreciate it! :-)
|
|
Related Posts:
- June 8, 2010 -- Mama Said They’ll Be Days Like This
During the two hours spent awaiting the arrival of the tow truck, I once again questioned whether I was cut out for this. For all I knew, this would mark the end of my brief trucking career. I had, however, learned another hard lesson.... - May 24, 2010 -- Keeping Your Head Screwed On Straight In A Crisis
I learned two things from a recent misadventure: first, that being safe out here requires being careful and being lucky and, second, that I needed to keep my head screwed on straight in a time of crisis. I had made the wrong initial decision, but I had gotten lucky—next time, I might not. ... - May 11, 2010 -- Fighting Through The Challenges Of Life On The Road
After loading up some drywall that had to be tarped on a rainy day in a muddy mess of a parking lot I began to question whether or not becoming a truck driving was a mistake.... - April 8, 2010 -- Questions and Answers for a Truck Driver
Recently, I was contacted by an individual who is interested in becoming a truck driver. He asked me several questions about the trucking industry and about my job. I thought they were excellent questions and decided it would be great to share on my blog for any of you interested in becoming a truck driver. I hope this helps answer some of the questions you might have!... - March 17, 2010 -- My First Year as a Truck Driver
Wow, it's hard to believe, but I've been at my current employer for 1 year as of today. I began Truck Driving School in January of 2009, completed that in February of 2009, and was hired on in March of 2009. This post will simply serve as some observations that I've made as my first year of a truck driver.... - March 7, 2010 -- Not Much Help For The Drivers
The Qualcomm system at most companies have directions to customers listed, but a lot of the time the directions are wrong. Unfortunately, even when dispatchers and customers know the directions are wrong nobody seems to care enough to do anything about it. Here's an example of the mess it can cause.... - February 25, 2010 -- Is Trucking In Your Blood?
Would you drive a truck if the trucking company you worked for only paid you enough to cover your bills at home and your meals, but nothing more after that? For me the answer would be yes. I love driving and I would do it for free. Trucking is in my blood. Do you love driving a truck? Really love it? If so, then trucking is in your blood. To me, there is a difference between liking your job and loving it. Liking your job means you enjoy going to work, you enjoy the people you work with, you enjo... - February 8, 2010 -- A New Era For The Knights Of The Road
In the past, truckers were known as "Knights of the Road". Those days are long forgotten, though, and through time the truckers and their rigs have lost their knightly reputation. Truckers are no longer depicted in a positive light and the situation looks like it may be getting worse for a number of reasons, including our own (lack of) pride and personal discipline, attitude, driving skills, and factors outside of our control including the media, more dangers on the highway, and recent waves of ...
Subscribe
Follow The Buzz!
Share on Facebook
I have quickly learned exactly what you are talking about. It seems I have been running right through the heart of the country quite often and have hit some real nasty weather, including a tornado that passed just 2 miles from me and killed somebody. And I’ve only been driving for 2 months! But the part about warnings mentioning cities and counties, you’re right, many times you don’t really know where you are or worse, where you’re headed. So when the warnings are issued, it really doesn’t do us much good.
Stay safe out there!