Winter is coming...

For most over the road drivers, winter is, at its best, challenging. At its worst, it is a sheer nightmare. This month, I wanted to offer some rules of thumb and personal "thou shalt nots" that I've used for 25+ winters to make it through this oh so long season. Experienced drivers, you may already know this stuff, but think back to your first winter. I begged for information like this when I ran my first winter.

One way to tell if it is freezing outside is to watch the backs of your west coast mirrors, the CB antenna and the brackets on your hood mirrors. If you start to see ice building up on those, its a safe bet that its cold enough to freeze any precipitation on the road surface. When I first started driving, I was told that as long as I could see spray coming off other vehicles' tires, then the road surface was just wet, not icy. I can tell you from experience that, while that statement is usually true, it is not always true. If the road surface was snow or ice packed earlier, but now you see spray, just hold in the back of your mind that there could still be ice under the spray if the pack was thick enough. The top layer will melt, but not the bottom. The other bad news is that the melted top layer will almost always freeze back solid at night depending on the temperature.

Once you've determined that you're driving on slick road surfaces, my best advice is "no sudden changes of direction and no hard braking". Use your fuel and brake pedals as if you had an egg between your foot and the pedal. Do not break the egg! Your movements of the steering wheel and the truck should be slow and gradual. Don't let yourself get put into a situation that requires evasive maneuvering. Keep yourself as far away from other vehicles as you possibly can.

You need to know your truck. If you know how it "feels" when you hit a normal brake, you'll know when you "break loose" (lose traction) on an icy road. If you know how your truck sounds when it is running down the road on a normal day, you'll definitely know when you hear the noise the tandems make when they start to spin out as you cross a slick overpass. Also, if your truck is equipped with an on-board outside air temperature thermometer, know how many degrees it is off. Ours will read 4 degrees warmer than the actual outside temperature due to where the sensor is mounted. Four degrees can make a big difference in whether you are running solid ice or just slush.

On snowy and/or icy roads, increase your following distance. The Smith System says 14 seconds. I say it depends on how bad the road surface is. If you happen to be on solid ice and someone in front of you starts to jackknife, is 14 seconds enough time to gently slow your own truck without occupying the same piece of ditch as the unlucky driver in front of you? Hitting a brake too hard is most likely the reason his trailer came around on him in the first place. You want enough space between you and him to be able to keep your vehicle under control AND avoid him while he tries to recover from his mistake.

With that being said, don't be a rolling roadblock either. My personal rule for speeds on bad roads is this: if the trans-axle differential is locked in, I should be able to do at least 25 mph and feel safe. If the trans-axle differential is not locked in, I should be able to do at least 35 mph and feel safe. If chained up, the recommended safe speed is no more than 25 mph. The operative words here are "feel safe". At the point that I don't feel safe, I park it. Contrary to what your dispatcher thinks or says, no load is worth your life or the life of an innocent person.

Speaking of tire chains:  For the first 12 years of my driving career, my rule was that if it was bad enough for chains, it was too bad to go. Since we did a 6 month tour of duty for Interstate Distributors, I've changed that rule. For those of you unfamiliar with that company, let me explain. IDC is located in Tacoma, WA. Their drivers have to go through a chaining class during orientation. They expect their drivers to chain and run if it is safe to do so. Once we learned the "right" way to chain up, we have no problem "hanging iron" and running if we feel safe doing so. If you would like to see a video on how to properly hang your chains and a better way to chain, please comment below. You never know when adding a little bling to your ride will be necessary to get you out of a mess or to an icy dock.

Every one of us that runs West has to deal with knowing the chain laws for each state. The starting date for chains to be carried on the truck is different from state to state, as are the particular laws for each state. I believe that Colorado has the earliest compliance date for having to carry chains on the truck. Colorado chain law can be viewed at Colorado's Department of Transportation website. It states: "Commercial Vehicles operating on I-70 in either direction between mileposts 133 (Dotsero) and 259 (Morrison) from Sept. 1 to May 31 must carry sufficient chains at all times to be in compliance with the Colorado chain law." A good article about chain law broken out by state can be found on OOIDA's website. There are links to each state's website included. This article also mentions apps for your smart phones to keep up with state chain laws. I have not personally used any of these apps but might give them a look now that I know they are out there.

I want to give you my two most used links when Old Man Winter starts making himself known. You must be able to check weather on your route and road conditions in the states you are running through. I prefer the graphical forecasts at the National Weather Service. Learn to use this map as you plan your trip and you'll be able to route yourself around most bad weather. As far as road conditions by state, my favorite site is provided by the Federal Highway Administration. It is a state by state listing of all transportation sites. I especially love state websites that include live cameras on their road condition listing. Not only do I have the text version, but I can see the actual road conditions. Wyoming's WYOROAD.info is a lifesaver. These two sites are my best friends during the winter months.

The bottom line is that it is your tail in the seat. You are the only one that can make the Go or No Go call. Do not base your decision on what other drivers are doing or saying. Everyone has different skill and comfort levels. If you don't feel safe, find as safe a place as you can and park. Again, no load is worth your life or the life of an innocent person. The End.

Merging Mayhem

My name is Kat Tracy and I am an angry trucker. There, I said it. Admitting you have a problem is the first step in reconciling the problem. I fear there are many steps left to take before I get it out of my system. In fact, there are probably as many steps as there are drivers on the road. Based on that statement, this should be a long-running blog, unfortunately.

So, what qualifies me to write this blog? Let me just say that 25 years on the road should be enough qualification for anyone, but during that quarter century, I’ve driven virtually every interstate and many of the back roads of this country and Canada. I’ve trained other people to be professional truck drivers. I’ve pulled most types of trailers with most makes of trucks hauling so many different types of freight that I can’t begin to list them. I have also experienced infinite numbers of acts of stupidity, ignorance, rudeness, and downright danger from the motoring public. That motoring public doesn’t just include four-wheelers. Some of you Billy Big Riggers are the most dangerous individuals on the road. All of this means that I have tons of material to write about.

Let me start with one of my biggest pet peeves. This one encompasses the whole of the driving world, from the smallest motorcycle to the largest over-dimensional load. This may be the mother of all of my pet peeves. Merging into freeway traffic from an on-ramp requires timing, control of your vehicle and your full attention at all times. Apparently, no one is teaching this skill in any driving school or driver’s education class in the whole country. Many of the grey hairs on my head are directly attributable to bad merging situations.

People, it is called an “acceleration lane” for a reason! You must be surveying traffic, finding your gap in the flow and adjusting your speed accordingly. You are most likely moving into high speed lanes (55 or higher) so that means acceleration! You cannot do all of these things if you are texting or talking on a cell phone, putting on make-up, opening your breakfast, mixing your coffee, reading your notes for a meeting, folding up a map, or trying to tie down your child in his car seat. Near misses occur all the time because the merging driver can’t be bothered with the traffic he/she is merging into until the very end of the ramp. At that point, they find out that there is no gap and no speed match and their vehicle is totally out of place in the land. This usually ends up with one of two things happening: the merging vehicle slams on their brakes and swerves OR they try to force their way into traffic that has no place to go to let them in resulting in the merging car being reduced to navigating the shoulder of the highway until they can manage to find a hole to move their vehicle into. None of this is safe and all of it is stressful in the max.

Also, signal lights are not optional. Especially in multi-lane merges, signal lights indicate to me how many lanes you need to move as you enter the freeway. I understand that some interchanges require multiple lane changes in a short distance, but I can’t read your mind. If you don’t show me your intentions by using your signal lights correctly, I don’t think you should flip me off when my rig blocks your progress and causes you to miss your exchange. Correct use of signal lights includes turning them off once you enter a lane, then turning them back on to move again. If you leave them on with no break in the action, most people, myself included, assumes you have forgotten to turn them off, not that you are continuing to move to the next lane over.

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but just in case, here’s some breaking news for you. Tractor trailer combinations can legally weigh up to 80,000 lbs. Reach way back to your high school physics class. A body in motion stays in motion. To stop that 40 ton rig requires quite a long distance. If you have failed to judge your merge properly for all the previously mentioned reasons, it is logical to expect bad results when you suddenly jam up at the end of the ramp. Sometimes this error can cost lives. Your environmentally green car doesn’t stand a chance against my Kenworth’s diesel burning, atmosphere polluting 450 horsepower engine or the 80,000 lbs. Billy Big Rigger, some of the worst truck wrecks I’ve seen were rear end accidents caused by a poor merge decision. One of the worst occurred when a rig in the travel lane moving at 65 mph hit a merging truck entering the highway from a rest area. Rest area merges have their own, unique set of problems, especially at night. Those trucks parked on the ramps block vision of vehicles moving within the rest area heading for the entrance ramp to the highway. If you are a big rig, your marker lights are not discernible from theirs. Rest area merges require extra attention and focus from both sides of the ramp.

Last but not least, the “mergers” are not always the sole problem. The “merges” can do much to alleviate the merge problem. As you are driving, be aware that you are nearing a merge ramp. Look for the signs indicating the type of merge ramp ahead. Is it a merging ramp into your lane or a continuing lane? Is it a clover leaf on-ramp? Clover leaf ramps are more dangerous because those vehicles have a shorter acceleration lane to get up to highway speed before the merge. Watch the traffic movement on the cross road as you are coming up to the exchange. Is it busy? Can you see any traffic moving to enter the acceleration ramp to merge with the highway? If so, move to the next lane over in advance, if possible to do so safely. If not, pay close attention to the merging traffic. Check your speed against theirs. Odds are, you will have to make adjustments for them to make the merge safely. Remember, you are the professional. Practice safe merges and stay safe out there!