Driving In Bad Weather

So i came along this you tube Video. You Tube Video

I lived in Germany for a long, long time. So driving in Snow and Ice isn't new to me. I was just wondering and couldn't find any answers to this, what you gonna do if you get stuck on a hill? I mean there can be a million reasons for this, another vehicle in front of you does something stupid and doesn't make it up the hill. Then you lose your momentum, just one of many examples i could think of. So the Truck, if your lucky stands on the hill(worst case it starts sliding back), what you gonna do if you cant get it moving or if the worst case happens?

I told you i gonna come up with some stuff over time, wail I'm learning to get in to this new World.

So the Truck, if your lucky stands on the hill(worst case it starts sliding back), what you gonna do if you cant get it moving or if the worst case happens?

Put your head between your legs and kiss your butt goodbye.

Just kidding. Hopefully you don't start sliding back. If it's that slick and the hill's that steep, you probably should have had chains on already to prevent this sort of thing from happening. If I started sliding back, I would probably try to control the slide so my nose isn't sticking out into traffic. I got stuck once on I70 west of Denver while going up a hill. I was heavy, around 75k or so, and there was no chain requirement at that time. I hit some ice when I started climbing a hill and just kept spinning out. I ended up eventually coming to a complete stop because of the lack of traction, at which point I locked in the differential and was able to climb a little more. I couldn't quite make it to the chain station another 200 ft up, so I pulled onto the shoulder as much as I could and chained up.

So i came along this you tube Video

Personally, I think you will save yourself a lot of trouble and worry by "just saying no" to Youtube during your time of preparation for this career. I get it, and understand completely why people dig through all that stuff, but my personal experience with starting this career was that 99% of what you're going to be seeing on their is a complete waste of time.

So i came along this you tube Video

Personally, I think you will save yourself a lot of trouble and worry by "just saying no" to Youtube during your time of preparation for this career. I get it, and understand completely why people dig through all that stuff, but my personal experience with starting this career was that 99% of what you're going to be seeing on their is a complete waste of time.

Oh i should cleared this up oldschool, you tube is not my source of information for any of this. The only thing i use you tube for is Entertainment. If i have questions or there is something in my way to this new career, the only source of information are the people her. And i have to say even her in the Forums i learned to sort people in and out, like you for a instance i know that your information comes from heart and is to the best of your knowledge. So what I'm trying to say is. when you tell me something i know to listen, i hope that gets over what I'm trying to say.

This youtube Video i watched just reminded me that i wanted to ask about the bad weather advice you guys have. Because going slow and look ahead, or if in doubt stop, in a safe place to do so. Just saying this because her in the south people think if there is a snowflake the best thing to do is stop on a street and go home, like if the roads where just a parking place during snow/ice. If you cant make it yes i would stop and let the company know the Road is at the moment not safe, so the load will be there as soon as i can drive safe.

So yes in basic i know what to do, but i was wondering what other advice experienced people have on the topic in my first post. Because this happened to me in my car. I went up a hill and no problem till a car in front of me hit his breaks, for what reason ever i don't know. This left me stranded in the middle of a hill, in my car no problem, a little scary but no Problem. When my car started to slide backwards, i just made sure nobody was behind me. Then i went with the slide by just making sure i keep control of the situation, till the car got traction again. Because i new i couldn't make it up this small hill without having enough momentum in the start, i turned the car in a drive way and used another road home.

In a 18 wheeler we are talking in a complete unknown situation for me, so i just wondered. What stories, information and Tips the Truckers have on this.

Put another way,...

Papa Bear try not too flood your head with much more than what is needed to progress from step one to step two. Driving in winter weather is step 10... It's easy to become overloaded worrying about future; "what-if" scenarios.

Common sense is the "order of the day" when trying to manage and drive safely in snow and ice. Your scenario, at least in the case of a Walmart driver needs to be handled like a breakdown because we do not carry chains. They discourage us from chaining up because it's too easy to wait out a storm, shut down at a store. I've done it many times when empty.

We had a driver stuck climbing a slippery grade last week. He parked as close to curb as possible, made sure the truck was stable, turned on the four ways, set out the triangles, chocked the drives, called driver management and waited in his truck for a salt spreader to arrive.

We are taught how-to handle situations like this in weekly safety meetings and constant info published on the driver's portal and Qualcomm message board.

I would have been parked. i dont chain up, i park it. so what if i sit for a day while the roads get plowed and cleared? i'd rather sit than get into a situation like this. eacpecially if i know im dealing with up/downgrades on ice, forget it.

i was 3 weeks into being solo when I hit a blizzard at 0300 in West Virginia, not even realizing I was going uphill cause i was going so slow, the RPM never changed. I got to the top of the 7% and was like "OH HE!! NO" lol i parked. so glad i did, the entire downgrade was full of accidents and turned over trucks the next morning.

Rainy wrote:

I would have been parked. i dont chain up, i park it. so what if i sit for a day while the roads get plowed and cleared? i'd rather sit than get into a situation like this. eacpecially if i know im dealing with up/downgrades on ice, forget it.

i was 3 weeks into being solo when I hit a blizzard at 0300 in West Virginia, not even realizing I was going uphill cause i was going so slow, the RPM never changed. I got to the top of the 7% and was like "OH HE!! NO" lol i parked. so glad i did, the entire downgrade was full of accidents and turned over trucks the next morning.

When the Interstates and Majors are fairly clean, we run. Secondaries and local roads are what typically cause issues for us on this account. The scenario I described occurred on PA-61 just north of Hamburg and I-78.

I guess it should be noted that places like WY and CO will shut down the roads in parts and put chain laws into effect in others. Also, people assume that company drivers are not permitted to deviate from our routing. In WI this week, i drove through ice and snow and stayed on the interstates which added 80 miles to the trip. i just messaged on the QC what i was doing and got back "10/4 thanks be safe" which is exactly what i expect to hear.

use common sense and understand the companies would rather change an appointment than pay $100,000+ in damages. it took me awhile to not feel guilty about shutting down.

use common sense and understand the companies would rather change an appointment than pay $100,000+ in damages. it took me awhile to not feel guilty about shutting down.

This is True! I had just got my truck back from the shop earlier this week at 1300 after 3 days, had to pickup in Davenport IA going to Tipp City OH (Meijer) to be delivered by 0600. The customer had overnight parking and I could have made it there. However, if you've been keeping an eye on the weather recently, IA was hit by a major snow storm. Took me about 4h to deadhead about 100m to the pickup, had to pull over about every 20m just to knock the ice off my wipers just to be able to see, seeing trucks and 4 wheelers all over the shoulders and median. After I arrived, I decided, it's not worth it, messaged my dispatcher , and parked it at the nearby Flying J to wait out the storm.

By morning, all the roads were clear with little to no snow in sight. Yeah, I may have arrived 9 hours late, but I arrived alive and safe; guard never said anything about my late arrival.

It's not just snow and ice. I shut down for two days during hurricane Harvey due to high winds. I had a light load and didn't feel safe. Kept dispatch informed of my status every few hours. There reply every time. Thanks. Stay safe. The number one goal of all companies is safety.