Driver Killed After Semi Flips During High Winds On NC Bridge

Like I said, going faster may indeed make it more stable in high winds. I'm not sure. Maybe someone has done wind tunnel testing on this.

But what I am sure of, and this is not an opinion but a rather obvious fact, is that if you roll or wreck at high speed you're probably dead. If you roll or wreck at a very low speed you're probably going to be fine. So to me it doesn't make sense to run hard in a windstorm hoping to stay on your wheels when you're risking probable death if you're wrong. If you get stuck in a windstorm and need to keep moving long enough to get it parked somewhere it would seem the safer bet to go slow in case you do get rolled over.

Because make no mistake about it, a really huge gust is going to put you on your side no matter how fast you're going. You can't go fast enough to prevent it from rolling altogether. So the question isn't whether or not you could get blown over. You most certainly can. The question is how fast do you want to be going when that happens? And my answer is 1 mph. I want to be going 1 mph if it flops over.

I'm headed home and was glad to see my Appt was late enough that I didn't ha e to drive through this. I'm a little worried about the aftermath and flooding though. Mom says waters are high there.

As for.wind, in training I was fully loaded and locked on 64 mph when the truck started rocking. Trainer told me to keep it at 55 but still rocked and swayed.. .. I took it to 45. Nice and comfortable then. She didn't like it but I did.

Anyone remember science class? A body in motion stays in motion.

A vehicle moving at a high rate of speed takes less force to change direction than one moving slowly or stopped.

Ever notice when traveling through Wyoming in high winds the speed limits go from 75 to 45 or 55?

Nope can't say I would speed up.

I was taught in high winds to NOT slow down.. Speeding up will cause a loaded trailer to "squat" causing a slightly lower profile.l and help keep your trailer straighter. Of course if im empty im parking lol but ive tried the rookie natural reaction of slowing down in heavy winds and it made it soo much worse. As a brand new solo driver i was told to "mash on it" and it really helped me not to be knocked around so much. YMMV and follow your own company's policies.

I think I see what you're saying. I'm like everyone else, going slow when it gets windy. When I drove reefer , I took alot of loads through Wyoming in pretty high winds. It was easier when I took it slow. But if I was hit by a strong wind gust, sometimes I would mash the accelerator and it seemed to help a little sometimes. I think it's the same idea as accelerating through a blowout. If you keep your speed constant, the only force acting on your vehicle (besides minimal forward force to counteract gravity and friction) is the lateral force from the blowout or the wind. If you start accelerating, you can somewhat counteract that lateral force and stay under your trailer, which helps keep you from rolling over. But I also agree with Brett, as far as whatever constant speed you're keeping, slower is better. I'd rather roll over in a slow-moving truck than a fast-moving one. Slower is also better because it gives you more room to accelerate if necessary.

But the whole acceleration thing is also more or less hypothetical in wind. The acceleration trick works best when you can accelerate quickly. Ideally, you'd speed up by a several mph in a very short period of time and then just let off the accelerator. The only time that really works is when you are light, but who in their right mind is gonna go into a high-wind situation with an empty trailer?? No matter what tricks you use, a light trailer is no match for high winds.

In other words, if you're in high winds and you start tipping, put your head between your legs and...you know the rest.

Yeah I hear you. On that particular load I was extremely heavy (barely under 80k) and loaded with metal bar stock ingots. Any flatbedder will know what im talking about. . Huge flat metal squares about the size of a pallet and about a foot thick and double stacked, with these notches that kept the stacks from sliding. The entire load was just over 2 ft tall in the trailer.

That probably had much to do with the advice I was given for that particular load. They had called a shutdown for anyone pulling an empty or light load in the area due to high winds. They asked how I was and I told them I was pretty nervous and getting knocked around. They checked my location, load info, and wind speeds and said I could safely roll with that load and warned me about overpasses, bridges, etc. and to get over those as quickly as possible. The roads were dry and it wasn't raining or anything. . Just those crazy high winds that are common in the upper midwest. I was coming across I70 into St Louis when they called the shutdown on empties and light loads.