WEATHER OR NOT

Mile Marker # 15




The weather outside is frightful, and people's driving habits become more stupider. That's right ... more stupider. White knuckle winter driving is in full swing, and the miles become more time consuming and less profitable for a truck driver. Just in the month of December alone, my area in Wisconsin has received 20 inches of snow thus far. I don't care who you work for, choosing to drive in hazardous conditions is up to each individual's comfort and experience level. A driver has to realize that all trips are not always going to go as planned, especially in the Winter months. Your life or someone else's safety is first priority over some body's freight being delivered on time. If driving in snowy or icy conditions makes you uncomfortable, park and wait it out until the road conditions improve. If your company questions you about not driving, just tell them Road2Trucking.com told you to shut it down. Seeing a tractor/trailer jack knifed or on it's side, is an eery and helpless feeling. The injuries, in some cases death, equipment damages, freight loss, and the general accident recovery process, is financially devastating to a company or an owner operator.

Having a loaded trailer versus an empty trailer is a big advantage in Winter driving. The loaded weight over the drive wheels makes for better traction. Also, the weight helps to keep the trailer on the road in windy conditions. Someone came up with a brilliant idea in the 1980's of putting ABS on trailers. What a huge difference! Back before ABS was a part of the trailer brakes, I experienced what is was like, with an empty trailer, braking on a wet, black topped surface. The old trailer set-up, a wet surface, and the oils from the black top, did not make for a good combination. I unloaded a trailer full of freight and was on my way to a truck stop one night. I was approaching a down hill intersection traveling about 30 mph, when a car coming from the left tripped the light. Fortunately, the car made a right hand turn and there wasn't any additional traffic in that particular area. To my surprise, I looked out the passenger side window only to see some one's trailer getting ready to pass me. I hadn't come to a complete stop yet, but I thought to myself, that the trailer looked familiar. It looked familiar, because it was mine! I quickly got off the brakes and coasted through the red light. Luckily, my trailer straightened itself back out. That could have been an ugly situation in the daytime traffic. At 30 mph, that would have never happened with ABS trailers. It was just so easy to lock up the trailer brakes with out even knowing it back then.

Some may differ, but I go into the all out defensive mode in bad weather conditions. When you filled out your resume, hopefully, you checked the mind reader box. Mind reading is a big plus in this profession ... and in marriage ( that's a whole different blog). I just figure that its me against the world of more stupider drivers. How many times have people been told to use their headlights when it's raining or snowing? This is going to sound unbelievable, but some people still drive around with a foot of snow piled on the top of their car, looking out of a 12 x 12 square of clean windshield, with two toddlers strapped in the back seat. It wouldn't matter if their lights were on or not, snow removal is required to see lens covers. I know everyone has seen people do a lot of things while driving, but last week I saw a guy reading a book. A book! Have you ever seen that guy? The only book he should be reading is How To Prepare For Death Reading A Book While Driving For Dummies. I so wanted to give him a little Bristol lug nut bump in the right front fender, just to be a part of his final chapter. Not only as a truck driver trying to keep the shiny side up, you have to anticipate what other people's next dumb move is going to be, without warning.

I am going to close this blog with a question. Feel free to leave a comment on the bottom of this page explaining what you would do in this situation. I will tell you what I would do and why.

QUESTION: Driving in snowy conditions on a two lane road traveling East, a West bound automobile with a family of four looses control and crosses the center line and is heading straight for your truck. A collision is likely. What would you do? It would be a very quick decision. I travel on a lot of two lanes and always thought about that. This situation probably has never crossed a lot of people's mind.

MY ANSWER: I would do all I can to get my truck over to the right as far as possible without going in the ditch. If the car doesn't gain control to that point, the outcome probably wouldn't be pretty. There is no way I would drive my rig into the ditch and risk my life or lively hood for someone else's mistakes. I am probably not the guy you want to come at head on.

WHY: If I decided to take the ditch to attempt to save lives, I would be sitting there hoping that a witness has stopped to tell my story. In a couple of other cases in my career, I've found out that people will stop, but it never seems to be the people who saw what happened. Then you are a truck driver on your own. If the car gained control and kept on going after I took the ditch, (kept on going happens more than you think) there I sit. A truck driver's story always seems to be questioned. He probably fell asleep, he was going way too fast for conditions, etc. It might seem cold hearted, but if you are concerned about the people in the car, you will have to talk to the driver who put them in that situation.

Everyone will have a different answer on what they would do under these circumstances.