Black Ice

My Husband has been with the Company for 27+ years. He has been on the road total 35 years. Monday March 25th, I80 Waco Nebraska. He field in Lincoln, roads were fine, he wanted to get to York Nebraska for a hot meal, He and I both looked at Weather, the storm was in Grand Island.

He was at full speed until the exit, when he saw others in the ditch and sideways and slowed up fast. He was approx 35 yards West of the underpass when he was hit with a 44mph wind gust, all of a sudden black Ice and it pushed him to the median, and once the steer tire hit mud it laid him over.

They technically fired him for it saying it was preventable. I have a letter, from Waco Ne Fire Dept that stated the roads were good and all of a sudden a call to service at 732pm, husband was already headed West and New nothing about black ice. He begged for a review , and they granted that, April 12.

I have found radars from NWS and DOT , that show 0 weather there still in Grand Island. We are hurting and stand to lose our home and car because of all this. He can go to any Company, depending on what they do to his DAC. He doesn't want to leave the Company.

He did have a couple of backing incidents, had a drive cam, and backed into a Loves Tanker that pulled behind him while backing up Any advice or help is appreciated, we also have a letter from a DOT plow driver/supervisor that stated that the roads iced quick between Waco and York, a 7 mile stretch.

God Bless.

Hello Sharon,

Sorry to hear about the roll over, what a bummer. Hopefully someone from this forum can give you some positive advice. I’m too new, so I have no experience with this type of thing. Maybe the review will turn out good. 27 years with the same company? Wow, that is impressive. One would think there would be loyalty between the company and your husband. I hope there is a favorable outcome for you.

The best advice I can give is just apply everywhere. Freight is slow pretty much industry wide right now still and it’s hard to find good jobs but they are out there. I can’t really give any advice about the rollover at this point since it’s already over and done. Moving forward, his best shot is going to be to take responsibility for his mishaps as opposed to making excuses.

I really don’t want to poke at your story very much because you’re on here asking for help and I’ve given it, but if I’m being honest your version of events is confusing and sounds questionable at best. If I were him I would avoid saying all of that in interviews and on job applications.

I can completely understand how being hit by a gust of wind and simultaneously hitting a patch of ice could cause a rollover. I’ve never had a rollover but that exact situation has happened to me before and and I watched my trailer slide into the next lane over. However…unless I’m misunderstanding you, it sounds like he was on an exit ramp at the time of the rollover. Is that correct? If so, I’m skeptical about this being unavoidable as you claim. Now, obviously I wasn’t there and haven’t seen the video of the incident or anything that would give me a clear idea of what happened, but if this sounds questionable even to me, I guarantee it’s going to sound like a bunch of excuses and lack of responsibility to the safety department of whatever company your husband applies to. That’s why I would just avoid the long explanation if I were him and just keep it simple: “I was unaware of the road and wind conditions on the off ramp and came in too fast for conditions.” He needs to make sure that whoever he speaks with knows that he accepts responsibility for not being cautious enough and that he has learned from his mistake and it will never happen again.

Maybe it was unpreventable…that I don’t know. But he’s not going to get any brownie points from any company’s safety department by trying to prove his innocence.

Sharon, sorry to hear of your hubbies accident, glad HE is/was ok in that mess !!

BK, now days there is NO such thing as company loyalty in any field anymore ! They only care mostly about what it cost them in damages done. Sad this is our world, well it's been around for ages actually. My buddies dad @ Waste Management, was with them over 30 years. He would do anything they asked of him after hours or on weekends. He would do all that extra work because he had a extended family to house and take care of. Company policy was ANY type of accident 3rd time, no matter what, instant termination.

I used to tell him "Bro we work 60+ hours a week, and you go way over that, for what? You're just a number to them" Well, his 3rd little mistake, was knocking off a mirror on another trash truck, parking 1 he'd finished fixing (night shift) We had around 150 trucks, and the drivers parked em any which way, no certain spots per truck, and crooked a lot of the time. I knocked off a mirror or 2 in my 6 year stint there, we all had.

Well, he was fired on the spot for that mirror, just like I tried to remind him, his loyalty and devotion, didn't mean SHYIT to them....

Good luck to your hubby Sharon, hopefully he finds a company to bring him on

No Sir... We live in SW Florida , but he was rolling West at the time of the accident. He started slowing down, as prior to this the roads were good, and normal travel speed. Matter of fact the wind was tossing him around before the wreck and if he was on ice then the wreck would have happened much sooner. After going under the underpass and clear of the get on ramp on I80 the gust of wind hit him broad sided and thats when he knew he was on ice, slid him over far left and when the left front steer tire him the soft shoulder it layed him over. We have letters and messages, and radars from 7-8-9 pm that show nothing on radar. He had 35-38K of meat in the box... We are now waiting on Pictures (5) from the Officer on scene that got him out of the truck.

The best advice I can give is just apply everywhere. Freight is slow pretty much industry wide right now still and it’s hard to find good jobs but they are out there. I can’t really give any advice about the rollover at this point since it’s already over and done. Moving forward, his best shot is going to be to take responsibility for his mishaps as opposed to making excuses.

I really don’t want to poke at your story very much because you’re on here asking for help and I’ve given it, but if I’m being honest your version of events is confusing and sounds questionable at best. If I were him I would avoid saying all of that in interviews and on job applications.

I can completely understand how being hit by a gust of wind and simultaneously hitting a patch of ice could cause a rollover. I’ve never had a rollover but that exact situation has happened to me before and and I watched my trailer slide into the next lane over. However…unless I’m misunderstanding you, it sounds like he was on an exit ramp at the time of the rollover. Is that correct? If so, I’m skeptical about this being unavoidable as you claim. Now, obviously I wasn’t there and haven’t seen the video of the incident or anything that would give me a clear idea of what happened, but if this sounds questionable even to me, I guarantee it’s going to sound like a bunch of excuses and lack of responsibility to the safety department of whatever company your husband applies to. That’s why I would just avoid the long explanation if I were him and just keep it simple: “I was unaware of the road and wind conditions on the off ramp and came in too fast for conditions.” He needs to make sure that whoever he speaks with knows that he accepts responsibility for not being cautious enough and that he has learned from his mistake and it will never happen again.

Maybe it was unpreventable…that I don’t know. But he’s not going to get any brownie points from any company’s safety department by trying to prove his innocence.

My first winter driving 6.5 years ago, I had a close encounter with black ice that has scared me to this day. The road was fine like you described then it turned into a sheet of ice with no real warning. I was doing 65 mph luckily I slowed to a crawl and made it out safely.

Matter of fact the wind was tossing him around before the wreck

So he had warning then, if the wind was bad enough to "toss him around" he should have already slowed way down. I had originally thought it was a sudden gust of wind that got him. However, it sounds like some of the signs of bad weather were ignored.

I agree with Pianoman I'd tell him to focus more on accepting responsibility rather than making excuses.

No matter what happebs just be glad it wasn't worse.

I am glad he is okay. Thank god. This was a preventable that caused a minimum of $300,000 which is what roll overs cost. That light with that wind, he should have been parked. I was there. The only thing that would make sense to me would be that he doesnt normally drive west. And most companies had drivers parked that day either by the driver or closed roads. It will make it hard to argue with them.

I recommend you and your husband immediately stop using whatever weather apps you are, because they are inaccurate. What i used was NE511, Google, NE511 twitter, and National Weather Channel. NWS got rid of their app years ago, although I loved it.

It just so happens that i picked up a load and was heading east that day on I-80. I stopped due to whiteout snow at about 0100 at exit 68 Little America. Laramie to Cheyenne were closed. At 0800 i headed out. I made it to Elk Mountain, black ice the whole way. By this time, I-80 in both directions was closed from Sydney to Kearney NE due to black ice and accidents. I was pondering where I would shut down. NE 511 reported having 5 multi vehicle pile ups and over 29 stranded cars on their X formerly twitter feed.

They closed more and more throughout the day. Pretty much Big Springs to Lexington. Then they extended Sydney to Lexington. Until finally it was the WY state line to Lexington. They didnt even open the road until about 0900 Tues.

I am the blue dot on the WY/NE border. As you can see from the screen shots below.... as of 16:23 on Monday, the western half of I80 and US 30 were closed. I can prove that. But it had been closed at different parts all day. He had to know that he was heading into a bad situation. And the blue map is the wind app. Why do i have these screenshots? Cause I send them to my students to tell them to park it and be aware.

The darker the blue, the higher the wind. I was hauling 44,000 pounds. I got pushed "a bit". With 35,000... he was probably wiggling a lot. And notice i was on the edge of the dark blue. He was smack dab in the middle. It doesnt surprise me he got nailed after an overpass. We are taught that. The bridge blocks the wind then BOOM! You said he was going full speed then slowed quickly. That didn't help either. And what is full speed in his truck? I was going 50mph most of the time and slowed a but when needed.

This is from the afternoon, but it had been closed all morning. He must have known he was headed towards it. Roads conditions don't just miraculously stop at the exact spot predicted. You need to use judgement.

This alert had been on for most of the day also.

The storm was so bad, with low temps and black ice that even KS closed I70 to the western part of the state.

This is WY shut down I -80 "due to events in Nebraska".

He was at full speed until the exit, when he saw others in the ditch and sideways and slowed up fast.

The wrecks were an indication of trouble.

He was approx 35 yards West of the underpass when he was hit with a 44mph wind gust, all of a sudden black Ice and it pushed him to the median, and once the steer tire hit mud it laid him over."

This was interesting... so how fast was he going? He should have been in the right lane. So he jeopardized the safety of other people when he was literally pushed across two lanes.

He may have issues getting hired in this economy. Ask your car finance company and your mortgage company for deferments. Some may do it, some won't. There used to be a way to reduce your mortgage interest rate for up to 5 years, but you would still owe that money on the back end. It is to be used only for cataclismic events. Ask your congressman if this is still available. It was enacted during Obama so I dont know if still available or even if u would qualify. Doesnt hurt to ask.

Apply everywhere. Take any job.

I think this was the same weather event I got caught up in coming south from North Platte NE. I described my experience in the thread “Ready for Winter to be Over”

I also did my due diligence on the road conditions before I started to head out. It was supposed to get better as I went south on 83, but it really got worse. I drove about 150 miles before I was able to get parked and wait it out. At NO time during that drive was I able to go full speed. Burned a lot of clock going 25-45 mph, but at least I made it. I had a near slide off while I was stopped due to the ice and wind. What if I had not been able to pull out of that slide off? I know my company would have said I shouldn’t have been driving under those conditions and I probably would have been fired. And they would have been right.

Black Ice Matters. (See what I did there? Couldn’t resist.) Especially when combined with high winds. The saying goes that there is only one safe way to drive on ice and that is not to do it.

I was lucky. I gained valuable experience and learned a lesson I will never forget. The most dangerous conditions, in my opinion, involve the combination of moisture, wind and plummeting temperatures.

And just another warning: the digital temp readouts on the trucks are not always accurate. My dash might show the temp at 34 but the actual outside temp may be 28 or 29. Be aware of that and when temps are approaching freezing, check another source to get the true temp.

Ice on windshield or backs of mirrors is a slap in the face warning. Cant miss it

Glad you are safe also.