A Truckers Winter Driving Tips
Winter, like death and taxes, is upon us once again. And with winter comes the always serious issue of winter driving safety. A little foreknowledge can make your wintertime travel experiences a bit less nerve-wracking and more likely to remain blissfully uneventful. As a professional driver, perhaps I can give you the benefit of my experience so you will know in advance how to identify trouble, avoid it and get out of it once you've gotten in to it.
One thing to be aware of is that the newer, small vehicles, regardless of aerodynamics and safety features are lighter and thus don't have as good traction as heavier vehicles. Increased speed also reduces traction by limiting the length of time each area of the tire stays in contact with the road. Pick-up trucks and larger SUV's have a tendency for the rear end to slide due to the longer length of the vehicle and the unequal weight distribution from the front engine. Adding weight over the rear axel will reduce this tendency. Bear these facts in mind as we go through today's winter driving tips.
First, learn to drive defensively on ice and snow. Even if you are sure of YOUR skills, there is no way to be sure other fellow travelers have the same skills: keep a good following distance-then add another hundred feet just for good measure. I often see people get stuck simply because they were following the car ahead of them too closely and once the leader stopped-everything stopped. A stopped vehicle is much harder to get moving in slippery conditions.
ALWAYS slow down on snow and in other winter weather conditions! The faster a vehicle is moving, the harder it is to stop. It's also harder to correct a skid at faster speeds. Make sure your washer fluid tank is full-preferably with a de-icing fluid-nothing is worse than having frozen windshield washer fluid coat your windshield with a layer of ice so that you cant see. Likewise, make sure you have installed winter wiper blades, possibly the silicone-coated variety that sheds ice. Heated wipers are ideal but very expensive to install if the vehicle isn't equipped with them. Clear vision is crucial if you hope to avoid an accident happening in front of you.
Learn how to handle a sliding vehicle: many driving schools teach this as a separate short course. Most of us in the northern climates learn the necessary tricks simply by experimentation in an empty, icy parking lot. Some of the basics: a spinning wheel gathers little traction-if you are having a hard time getting a grip on a slippery surface, don't give in to the impulse to step on the gas. In fact, easing up on the throttle may allow your drive wheels to grab a little traction and you can "walk" your vehicle up to a better speed. If you feel a slide beginning, immediately let off the gas! With a manual shift vehicle, engaging the clutch will immediately remove the power to the drive wheels and may correct a skid. Find an empty icy parking lot and practice, practice, practice. Here's your chance to do the "donuts" like a teenager with Dad's new car-and its all for a good purpose.
When in a skid, steer toward where you want the vehicle to go rather than cranking the steering wheel wildly. Be careful of over-correction as one can easily end up finding traction and suddenly sending their vehicle into a skid in the opposite direction. DO NOT HIT THE BRAKES while sliding! Once you lock up your brakes, the vehicle will continue in the same direction it is sliding and you have very slim chances of straightening it out. Instead, after you have begun to counter-steer, pump the brakes and let off them, then pump them again. Repeat. This kind of stab braking is effective in slowing the vehicle without locking up the brakes and is the principle behind anti-lock brakes.
Know when it's slippery. It sound simple, but many people don't know that warmer ice is slipperier than cold ice. Ice in warmer weather is often covered by a thin film of water caused by the warm tires of other vehicles. This unseen film of water makes ice especially treacherous. Imagine grasping a very cold ice cube straight from the freezer-you can hang on easily as you can grip the ice. Now, run the cube under enough water to wet it and try grasping it-much harder, isn't it? Your tires have the same problem.
You should know that you can face unseen ice even if the temperature is above freezing. If the air has been cold the night before, there are often patches of what truckers call "black ice", particularly on overpasses and bridges where a cold wind has kept the surface cold from below. When the temperature hovers right around freezing, this is common. Black ice is hard to see simply because it isn't thick enough to change the color of the pavement-it simply looks like a wet road. One place black ice is commonly found is areas where snow has blown across the road and been melted by the heat of tires then re-freezes on the pavement. It may be just wet-it may be black ice! Some stretches of new pavement are very prone to icing; these newly-paved areas have been finished to a smoother surface and ice forms on them easily. Watch for shiny spots-and slow down for them!
Fog can freeze on the roadway and cause black ice. Often this thin layer of ice isn't obvious to the motorist. One way to check for possible freezing ice is to roll down the window and feel the side of your vehicle or the back of your side mirror. If ice is starting to form, you should be able to feel it there. The wise driver always watches the vehicles around him in cold, wet conditions: if spray is being thrown up by their tires, chances are that it hasn't started to freeze-yet.
A cold rain or drizzle at near-freezing temperatures can lull the driver into complacency if it continues hour after hour. Be aware a tiny drop in temperature or rise in altitude can change the drizzle to ice in a flash! The bridge and overpass trouble-spots are usually the first to go cold. Hail and sleet, if heavy enough, can create a slick roadway.
All snow is not created equal. Wet, heavy snow is ordinarily slicker than dry cold snow. If it's sticking to your wiper blades, it's likely a wet snow that may be especially slippery. Although snow is not as slippery as ice, the first snow may well have melted then frozen onto the roadway, leaving a thin layer of ice under the snow. Often two or three inches of snow can make driving safer than nearly bare pavement with its attendant icy patches.
If you encounter serious ice, you will need to get to the nearest safe place to stop until after the salt or sand truck has a chance to lay down its protective substance. Be aware that salt and the chloride-based substances often used take at least twenty minutes to take effect and work their magic. Salt also doesn't work efficiently in extremely cold temperatures-below ten degrees. Sand however works to improve traction immediately-but only in the areas it is spread on. One way to make it to the nearest safe place on extreme ice is to "drag dirt"-or run with one set of wheels off on a cleared, gravel shoulder. The rumble strips along many major highways will allow for safer traction as the top of the ridges provide little surface to enable a skid. It takes two wheels to skid-never leave two wheels in a situation where a skid is possible.
Following these tips won't guarantee you'll have a safe trip but it WILL give you a far better chance of staying out of trouble or getting out of it once you've gotten into it. Drive safely!
