winter driving, little nervous

The tips you stated are the best tips to follow. If you slow down, brake early, and just use common sense, you will do fine. Don't rush yourself no matter how late the load is. If you can't safely drive, don't drive.

 

When you're on pack-snow or ice, be VERY VERY easy on the throttle, especially going up hill or when not so heavy. No sudden throttle (torque) changes that might "break" your positive wheel traction. Drive like you're trying to obtain 10 MPG in some contest.

Obviously, brake as lightly, smoothly, and gently as possible.

Try and avoid driving on snow/ice at night unless absolutely necessary, especially on an unfamiliar road or grade.

When on a long stretch of ice and your "comfortable", try and stay in a gear where your RPM's are at/above 1400 rpm or so. That way if you break traction (with torque) you won't "spin" too much over the RPM's your tires were turning. High torque engine, low rpm, light load, slick roads = be VERY careful because if you break traction, and your tires revs go instantly from 35 MPH to 45 MPH but your truck remains at 35 MPH, that might put you in an irrecoverable position.

Be especially careful in crosswinds or quartering winds. Park it if you're light, it's slick and the winds are over about 35 MPH from the side. Blowing snow can be good and can be bad, depends on the situation, but certainly can be a vision issue at times. Try to not end up in the middle of nowhere on a narrow road with few pull-off areas before figuring out you should have stayed put.

From a stop and it's slick, (not too cold) try to ease out of your spot (hole) as slowly and smoothly and easily as possible with the clutch in a very low gear to try and prevent yourself from ever spinning.

Not all snow/ice is the same, some snow you can track good, some is slick as greased owl sh#t, only experience will guide you. The point is, never assume today's snowy roads, will be the same as those last week.

If you park for the night and you feel there may be water inside your brake drums (wet roads), sometimes it's a good idea to only set your tractor brakes. Helps to eliminate some brake freezing situations as the temp drops as you sleep (and wheels cool off). Carry a 5 lb short sledge hammer, If brake(s) are noticed to be froze solid, put truck in gear, shut off engine, chock wheels, and release all breaks and crawl underneath and "lightly" hit the offending brake drum where you can to hopefully break it loose. You'll see it slam "open" when it does.

When leaving in the mornings, always weave right and left slightly to make sure all trailer wheels are turning before you get out of the parking lot.

 

Some things I was taught about winter driving. 1. SLOW DOWN!!! 2. an easy way to check to see if it is just wet or freezing is watch the water droplets on the top corners of your windshields and on your mirrors, If the water drops are dancing it is still above freezing, when they stop moving, you better be slowly easing off the accelerator, as you are now probably on black ice, or ice in general. Do not make rash sudden movements, ease the truck to next lane if passing or turning, don't jerk the wheel. When checking to find out if you can really expect ice or water find out what the temps were in area for last couple days, average temps together and divide by the number of days you just got. this is your average ground temp. with that maybe you have just wet roads or to expect frozen roads from the slush or salt water depending on the state your in. try to find out what they treat roads with, some states like Wyoming use sand. Idaho uses small pebbles to dig into the ice. Ohio loves salt and the Accubrine, and Clearlane solutions. These are some things I have learned to use to help me in winter. Common sense, be aware of your surroundings. If it is to bad for you to move, send a message and say it is Unsafe to move, and see what the weather brings. No Jake Brakes, This can cause a jackknife.

 

If you're gonna be running I-80 here are a few tips....

East of Cleveland expect lake effect snow and lots of it. Once you get so far it will clear up and the grass will be green again. Same goes for the South Bend area.

Don't run in packs or play follow the leader unless you are spaced far apart.

 

One of the hardest things to deal with as you become more experienced is when you and others feel it is safe to drive 40 MPH on an interstate, but you run up on someone who is driving 25, the snow is deep in the passing lane ... what do you do? That's a decision you will have to make. A lot will depend on how heavy or light you are, how "confident" you are, and if you think the driver you want to pass will help you by slowing down as you try and get around and back on to the good lane.

Also, be alert to the current weather situation for where you are and where you are going. Use your smart phone weather apps to monitor the regional and national current and forecasts weather. When running cross country, decide if you want to take the North route or the south route [and BTW the south route is not always the best option] and communicate with your DM.

Also, in being aware of the "big picture" (live radar with animation) with regards to the weather that is going on, sometimes you can get a birds-eye view and you might see that if you can just struggle through for a few hours to cover 70 miles, and you might find yourself in the clear and on good roads ... nothing sweeter than getting into a market and getting empty on time (and 8 hours before everyone else who "slept" it out), and getting the best loads back out. A lot of drivers will sit for a day and a half waiting for roads to clear when they could have pushed through for 4 more hours on ice and been on clear roads and home bound. But by parking, they simply allowed a bad situation to get worse, thus requiring more time to clear.

Temps can go from 38 to 25 in a matter of 20 minutes (especially when traveling North or West) so be aware of what the weather is doing at all times.

I'll probably get flamed because some think I'm advocating driving in unsafe conditions. All I'm saying is a trucker has to drive on snow/ice at some point, so it's best to learn to drive on it safely, learn when NOT to drive on it, learn to respect it, but don't avoid it at every occurrence, because it is a part of the job.

 

Oh, and the "freezing rain" scenarios you often see early in the winter season in the southern tier states are probably the slickest conditions you'll ever encounter. These are typically situations when you should park before you find yourself sliding sideways or backwards into the culvert. (we've all seen the video clips of vehicles completely uncontrollable on hills or trying to stop) You can chain up if you really feel like it, otherwise you're asking for trouble trying to go far on solid, pure ice with a wet layer of drizzle on top ... mmmm, fuuunnn.

Also, be aware that driving many hours on snow and ice tends to cause you to become very tense and does also tend to tire you quicker. In other words, you'll sleep good after 7 hours on snow-pack and you deserve to sleep good. When your nerves get totally frayed, and your shoulders and neck get so tense they hurt, it's probably time to park somewhere safe and see how good you'll sleep in a warm sleeper.

 

Many times that left lane that nobody has been in has better traction than the packed down right lane.
When your confidence level grows you will find yourself in the left lane more.

 

Along with driving slower, increase following distance. Be easy on the brakes. When changing lanes put minimal input into the steering wheel.
Know how to chain your tires and be ready for the hills. Drive to the road conditions and do not push yourself beyond what you feel is comfortable.

If it has been raining and then the temp changes to freezing, that's a good time to find a place to park.

 

Be nervous and cautious. Its confidence that ususually has a driver take that step to cross that line and

-out on the road when he shouldn't be.
-go a little bit faster
-park where he gets stuck
-skip chain up areas, only to block traffic later with zero traction

Watch the front of your mirrors if it's raining and cold. Ice will accumulate there before you start seeing it on your windshield.

When you stop getting or seeing water spray off the tires of trucks in front of you or passing you, be extra careful. It means the ice is becoming a sheet on the road. The air temp is past the point of salt and warm tires melting the ice... It starts to accumulate on the road surface.

Mountains and curves have plenty of ice patches even on cold sunny days depending on the roadside melt, angle of the roadway, and shade.
Same thing on regular highways that are dry and sunny, only the ice is coming from large chunks falling off trucks and trailers that have recently passed thru snow or ice. Rough transitions between the road a bridge overpasses knock em off, cars and truck tires mash em and the you got a little ice spots every where until it melts.