Comments By Stewart A.

Thanks MG, that's great information even if you may not be able to use it in a company truck.

Unlike Old School who is about my age and even living in NH all my life I didn't have as much of the real life experience. My dad only took me bird hunting on day trips and never out in the woods for any length of time. I just never got in to it on my own after that.

Anyway Farmerbob1 might be right about there being kits but I sure like the idea of crafting this myself with things I may have or can get that have had another life first.

Sorry Errol but I'm going to say it, "COMON CORE". I just wish I'd gotten to it before anyone else. We all know (at least those exposed to children in grade school) that having the right answer doesn't matter as long as you were thinking of different ways to come up with one and not using the tried and true process which is old and outdated, not to mention closed minded because it only comes up with the right answer. And we all know that what is "right" for you may not be "right" for me.

But to address the original post, it is hard to comment either way on the truck driver from this limited information and certainly biased to one side of the story. It was good to see the admission of wrong doing for doing the shoulder driving and it does seem like there was too much impatience but we also don't know over how long this all took place which would weigh in as well. We also don't know if the trucker was multi tasking and after a while realized that he had pulled in front of the 4 wheeler and then tried to move over as he should but didn't catch the fact that the 4 wheeler had also just done that.

Either way the end result was good in that no one got hurt and no damage was done to person or property that we know of. Secondly while we will never know (unless he is reading this forum and admits it was him/her) maybe the trucker also got to have some seconds thoughts about the situation along with jetguy and will better handle this type of situation in the future. The worst mistakes are those we don't learn from.

Those are some cool pics. We sure do live in a beautiful country. I was thinking about your Hoosier pass run and realizing that my Cessna 172 that I used to fly would have a very hard time clearing that elevation. Most small single engine airplanes would struggle with that or just plan not make it. You would have to load them on your truck and take them over.

Carlos, first off I wish you well and say that Errol as usual has some very sound advise. While I'm not a trucker I have been driving for 43 years in New England. I live in NH and I like driving in the winter. That helped because for 15 years I was also driving a police cruiser besides my POV (personally owned vehicle) because many times I didn't have a choice, I had to go out to the scene of an accident or fire. I was also on my local fire department and and EMT with my local Recue Squad. Going out in the bad stuff was a regular thing. There are so so many tips and bits of advise that could be shelled out about winter driving that I don't have time to address. Some of the items you might hear from people that seem contradictory really might not be. The reason being that temperatures and timing will change things from bad to good or good to bad. So in one combination you will want to do one thing but when it changes to a different combination you might need to do something different.

Believe it or not, you will have more traction on snow when it is colder say 5F than when it is 30F. The reason is that the colder it is the dryer the snow is and it either blows off easily or stays put under your tires. Both are good things. When it is warmer especially around the freezing mark, it becomes very wet and slushy and can be very dangerous causing a kind of hydroplaning only worse than in water. Depending on the water content and depth what sometimes happens in a split second is your tire rides up on top of the slush and because of the weight of your truck it squeezes out most of the water and packs the rest of the frozen portion into ice.

Salt on the roads is a common treatment for ice and snow however it doesn't work at really cold temperatures like 10F and below. Some say it doesn't work at all until it is 20F or above. As far as driving goes, it has it's pros and cons based on temperature and how long it has been on the road. The transition from when it is first applied to when the road is clear can be a pain at times. As it starts melting the snow it creates a condition that we often call "greasy" where it is creating that slushy wet condition I mentioned earlier which can be much more hazardous than not treating the road but it will clear up and be much better. Another issue is the salt spray from other vehicles. Not only does it make your truck look terrible but it can make your view out the windshield even worse. Keep your windshield washer fluid filled and carry a bottle with you. Preferably one meant for cold and even freezing temperatures. It can help clear ice from your windshield too.

"Black ice". Now this is the worse case and you need to stay off the road if at all possible. If you can't or one minute it wasn't icy but all of a sudden you hit a section of road that is icy, then stay off the brake and just gently steer through it. You may even need to get on the clutch to disengage the drive wheels even without the jake brake active. There are times like this when the shoulder can be your friend where there may be dirt, gravel or grass. You will at least have one steer tire with improved traction. One way to tell if the road is changing from just being wet to ice is when there is no longer any spray coming up from the wheels of the vehicles around you or your own. If that happens don't use your brakes but SLOW DOWN especially in traffic because you are about to come upon an accident. It may be one that already happened or is starting to happen in front of you.

One last thing. Besides bridges, you will find shady areas more prone to freezing as well. It might be a corner of the road lined with trees that is always in the shade or in hilly mountainous areas such as we have up here where sections of roads are in the shade most of the day during the winter.

I hope none of this scares you because you can do it. Just be careful and take it easy when conditions warrant it. Just because some of us were born and raised in these conditions does not mean we have a different gene that made us any more capable of driving in these conditions. We had to learn just like you can, and will.

Keep safe, keep learning and keep driving.

Wow, I wish I had found this thread sooner. This has taken me 2 or 3 weeks to get through all the posts taking a little time each day just before I start work (at a desk). This has really been fueling my desire to do flat bed as scary as it must be some days, the variety and the exercise would be such a beni.

Thank you all for the great instruction, tips, warnings, humor and insight into your lives and the life of flat bedders in particular. This has been my favorite thread so far.

Keep learning, keep sharing and keep safe!

I used to be a part time cop myself and while some can be a little too hard nosed, (partly to stay alive) most really just want to help the public be safe. Keep in mind, many have that dream of being a truck driver themselves someday and just might be envying you so yes they're more than happy to help.

Way to go Ricky! Congrats. Stay focused, stay safe and stay professional. Ha, there's another trifecta for you to master.

Old School, I like your thinking. LOL. Welcome to New England and especially to NH. And to all of you OTR truckers, my apologies that we are pretty short on truck stops and what we do have are pretty small.

That said, if any of you regulars on TT are passing through Lebanon NH and stopping at "Fort Harry's" truck stop exit 18 off I-89, let me know and I'll buy your meal for you. God Bless and a special thanks to those of you who do venture into this part of our great country.

Very nice G-Town. It sounds like you are blessed with a great team at Selinsgrove and I hope and imagine you have let them know that too. These day to day work stories are just what some of us considering trucking need to hear. I know this one was also a pretty sweet day compared to a lot of them, but it is still really good to hear/read.

I hope you and everyone else out there driving trucks have more and more days of being the "bat" instead of the "ball".

Old School, that was great. I nearly had tears in my eyes thinking about this and if that had been me when I was 10. I bet there are some kids in the "Make a Wish" program that would love to have had that experience too.

My wife does child care in our home and if they are playing in the front yard and hear a truck coming by they will try and get to where they can be seen to give him or her the "signal". Every time they reply in kind with a blast or two sends them running and screaming in delight. So if any of you ever find yourself on Stage Rd in Plainfield NH, (yah right) keep your eyes peeled and give that air horn a little practice.