What Would You Do? (Icy Roads)

If you found yourself in a situation where the roads suddenly became iced over, would you continue until you found a safe place (in this case 5-10 miles only doing 5-10 mph) or would you pull over immediately and park on the shoulder? The key is to avoid finding yourself in this situation, but even with how I was watching the forecast the sudden drop in temp wasnt expected. It was 35 degrees and rain and within a half hour it was 25 and everything was a skating rink.

This purely how I would do it. Not what may or may not be the correct way:

If the traffic is light and you have a good amount of space around you, I say keep creeping along until you get to a parking area.

Stay safe, brother!

WELLLLLLLL....... I am no CDL holder .... BUTTTTT.... my .02 cents would be park it wherever it is safe to do so. That's what I would do personally.........

If you found yourself in a situation where the roads suddenly became iced over, would you continue until you found a safe place (in this case 5-10 miles only doing 5-10 mph) or would you pull over immediately and park on the shoulder? The key is to avoid finding yourself in this situation, but even with how I was watching the forecast the sudden drop in temp wasnt expected. It was 35 degrees and rain and within a half hour it was 25 and everything was a skating rink.

This exact thing happened to me 2 years ago on I-65 everything was fine, then the temperature hit 27 and it was a skating rink, unfortunately the road was closed and we sat for 5 hours so my decision was made for me.

But, I would pull over and stop if I had room to get off the road even at those speeds you can slide a long way, especially if there is a slight incline or decline.

Imo what you encountered is one the scariest things weather wise it goes from fine to skating rink extremely fast, when it happened to me I was freaked out for awhile and am still nervous when conditions tend that way.

I would pull over and hang tight until the salt trucks come by, then continue behind them. Granted, I live in PA, there are fleets of DOT trucks in every county. Might not be the same out your way

Sitting duck on the shoulder and libel for an any accident.

Sitting duck on the shoulder and libel for an any accident.

That's right. You absolutely do not want to be on the shoulder. You're asking to get wiped out by someone who's flying along and doesn't realize the roads are iced up yet. If you can park on an off/on ramp, hit a rest area, or get off the highway completely then do so. Do not stop and park on the shoulder. Go as slowly as you need to with your flashers on to alert the traffic behind you until you can get off the highway completely.

I would pull over and hang tight until the salt trucks come by, then continue behind them. Granted, I live in PA, there are fleets of DOT trucks in every county. Might not be the same out your way

By pull over do you mean immediately (on shoulder) or at the first safe place such as a truck stop or rest area? We were actually right behind a salt truck, he exited a couple miles before it froze up. The problem is this particular area of iowa (like 99% of it) is wide open, very rural. They were out throwing down salt and the liquid salt brine but when it's still raining out its not likely to work very effective. There were a few trucks that pulled off and parked on the gravel shoulder, I continued on at a snails pace along with the trucks in front of me as I felt its safer than being a sitting duck. A majority of this US Highway doesnt have exit ramps, you exit or enter from a stop sign at the same level as the highway. If I'm going in the ditch I'd rather it be my fault than having somebody slam into me that's going way too fast. Something strange about this as well as a mile or so before it got bad a trooper had pulled over a truck and was having him warn all of us on the CB "skating rink ahead, back it down, easy on the brakes)

I was in the exact same situation yesterday morning on i-90 west of Johnstown. Was cruising along nicely when I suddenly noticed a different feel in the road under me. When I saw ice forming on my mirror, I began backing down with the flashers on. We all came to a safe crawl and crept along at 5 mph or so for some time.

Given the option of staying on a relatively flat road vs pulling over onto a sloped ice-coated shoulder, I opt to stay on the road. Too much potential for trouble trying to go over on that shoulder, in my opinion.

Hey Rob, Sorry, No, Not immediately! I wouldn’t chance getting stuck on the shoulder or worse, hit. I should have said crawl to next safe place and wait for salters but I figured that was common knowledge!