Inclement Weather, Road Closures, Being Stranded

I have seen a ton of photos and videos lately about all the inclement weather and road closures. I was surprised at the amount of trucks that I've seen caught in these snow drifts and such. In trip planning, wouldn't possible inclement weather and road closures be something you would take into account? If you know a storm is coming that could cause roads to become impassable, can you notify your fleet manager and find the closest rest stop to park safely even if you still have hours on the clock?

Tangentially, how do you clear off the snow and ice off the top of the trailer before heading back out onto the road so that it doesn't all slide off and hit a passenger vehicle?

You try to plan for it and I'm constantly looking at weather maps to know what I'm getting into and sometimes will alter my route and notify my fleet manager that I'm doing so.

Many times there is no way around the bad weather and you either drive through it, or park it and notify your fleet manager. That said, this was my second winter trucking, and I have "parked it" three times. I ran nothing but northeast last year and Pacific Northwest this year, chained over a dozen times, and there were three times I said nope. FM gave me no grief on any of those, just told me to send an eta when I got rolling again.

Most people just roll, unfortunately, I have heard of people being killed when a large chunk of ice comes off the trailer and through their windshield. There is no way to safely get the ice/snow off yourself. The only real option is to hit a truck wash, they can get it off.

I kinda figured it would be something that they would have to let you sit out, especially if the weather is so severe. It would seem to me to be a safety issue, not only for me, but for people around me. I would also assume that receivers/shippers would understand if there was an impasse and that freight could get delayed. I know you don't want to be unreasonable about the delay, but to me having 30 trucks stranded in the snow along the road seems a bit excessive to me.

My biggest concern with the snow and ice on top of the truck is that I assume that's my liability if it damages someone's car. (I'm not even going to think about injury or death.) Do most truck stops have truck washes, or are those separate?

Many shippers/receivers and terminals will have a snow scraper. It's basically a blade suspended by an overhead frame. Drive under the blade, it's lowered then you slowly ease your way forward as the blade scrapes all the snow and ice. Since the WM DC I am assigned to has one, I fortunately do not need to worry about finding one. I have yet to see one of these contraptions at a TS though.

Many truckstops have washes or they are located next to them, but not all. In some areas, you might not be near anything.

You could try asking the shipper/reciever, but there will likely be times you just have to roll as is. Snow will fly off the trailer pretty quick, ice can stick around longer.

Was just gonna add this is mostly an issue with picking up trailers that have been sitting around. You parking for 10 might get some snow on the trailer, but very unlikely you are going to get a sheet of ice on top.

Miss, Miyoshi, in the last three winters I can think of only one time when I got stranded, and that was due to a severe blizzard in Iowa and the interstate got closed down. I was stuck at a truck stop for three days - it was bad. This was the view from inside my truck - I felt like I was living in an igloo!

Your planning will go a long way toward helping you in a situation like that. It happens, but just not that often in the whole scheme of things. The Flying J we were at had a Denny's restaurant which ran out of food on the second day (they couldn't get any deliveries - the interstate was closed) and some truck drivers actually ran out of diesel idling their trucks because you could not even get to the fuel island because there were so many trucks jammed into that place - they were parked everywhere. It was so badly jammed up that the Highway patrolman showed up when the ice started melting to help direct traffic in the parking lot of the truck stop so we could undo the log jam. I ended up feeding several truck drivers who were not prepared for such an event and didn't have any food in their truck. I keep a good store of food items in mine just in case I run into this kind of scenario.

Sometimes you can look at a radar on your phone and figure out if you can move on out or not. Once in Wyoming I got hit with a blizzard while we were loading. I studied it and decided that if I could manage to drive about fifteen miles I could be out of the blizzard which looked like it was settling in on the area. I took a big chance and went ahead and drove very carefully and slowly, and sure enough I got out into the clear after about an hour of very slow plodding along in severe weather. It just depends on how much risk you are willing to take on yourself. Daniel B. says I'm crazy when I do stuff like that, and maybe I am, but you can always trust your own judgement and shut down if you feel unsafe. Your DM will respect you for making good solid decisions when it comes to inclement weather. If you are going to do what I did in this scenario you need to stick with your plan and get on out - Don't change your mind mid-stream, that is when you start getting yourself in trouble. You do not want to be stranded on the side of the road or in a snow drift. It is much better to be at a truck stop or rest area than on the side of the road.

I recently stopped in Virginia due to black ice on the roadways and after informing my driver manager what was going on he sent me back a message thanking me for making such good solid decisions on the load.

I've always operated on the attitude of there is nothing in my trailer that is worth the risk of injury or death. I've had dispatchers try to push me to continue driving. I always communicate via the qualcomm as opposed to phone calls, so there is a record. Also with Swift, any message using the word "unsafe" automatically forwards to the safety dept. If you feel it's not safe, park it. Better safe than sorry.

The problem with weather forcasting is it's just what ever computer model looks like it makes sense at the time. Last summer I was going to the Texas Oklahoma border for a deliver. Weather said a chance of severy weather north and east of okc. So I routed my self south west of okc. The weather man was wrong I ended up driving into a tornado outbrake that started south west of okc. Had one cross over the freeway about .3 miles behind me. But the weather was all clear when I started trip that morning. This winter I was going into salt lake city weather showed 30% chance of snow. I ended up in white out contions. Checked the radio and slowly moved out of the storm it was only 30 miles wide. Also got into zero viz with ice fog. There are many more times I have run into unforcasted weather. But it comes down to you really don't know what the weather is going to do Intel you get there. Some times storms can move faster, slower or just stall over an area. This is just my opinion but a lot of the storms that you think will be big and nasty won't be. Its those little unforcasted onse that can get you when your not looking.

Miss Miyoshi, you are the one on the road with your truck. All your managers are in an office somewhere. They do know about the current weather situations. With all that, the most important thing to remember is You are the boss of your load.

Within reason, you could call a shutdown whenever you believe it is necessary. If the weather is bad, and you see the abominable snowman hip deep in snow and freezing by the side of the road, and you believe you would be safer off the highway, then get safe and let your DM know.

I doubt anyone in the office would even try to talk you into continuing. If they do, find a better company to drive for.