Profile For BB

The chart is a useful tool but blowing over isn't the only wind hazard. You can be driving down I-80 with some ice on the road when suddenly there's a wind gust. Driving on dry pavement you would be fine but you're on ice so the force of the wind rotates your truck on the road surface. If you were looking at your truck from above it would look like clock hands at 6:00 and a second later it would look like 8:10 WHILE YOU'RE DRIVING AT 55 MPH! Go ahead - ask he me how I know...

If you find yourself in this position:

1. Immediately take your foot off the gas. Tap the brakes if you need to disengage the cruise control. You'll be tempted to slam on your brakes because your truck will be headed off-road - DON'T - you don't have enough room to stop the truck and it will make it more difficult to recover control.

2. Establish control of the truck. GRADUALLY steer your truck back on the road. You may need to try more than once to get traction on your steers. Don't try to immediately get back in your lane - turning a hard 45 degrees is a good way to roll your truck or at least get your trailer tires airborne (which can shift your load and roll your truck anyway).

3. Return to your lane slow and easy. If you panic and oversteer you can find yourself driving off the other side of the road

4. Once you recover - SLOW DOWN. The slower you go the more traction your tires will have. Depending on how heavy your load is, how bad the wind is and where you're at (Laramie to Rawlins is usually the worst) you can decide to try again 10-15 mph slower or find a place to camp out until weather conditions improve.

If you're an inexperienced driver PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THE OTHER DRIVERS ARE DOING! If you're the only truck on the road in a snowstorm and you see a dozen trucks parked on an exit ramp that's a clue that you should think about finding a place to shut down.

Thank you, that's very helpful! Having spent my entire life in Mississippi, I've not had much experience on snow and ice. And what little I have had was in this truck. 😏

Thank you for this. I'm sitting with an empty trailer wishing the wind would die down. I had a load I really wanted, but the sustained winds were 22 with gusts up to 40. I've done a heavily loaded trailer with those conditions. Had to slow down to 50 to feel safe handling it. But never tried it with an empty.

I have less than 6mo experience. I'd like to find out what I can and can't handle, but I don't think these conditions are a good starting place to find out.

"No load is worth the risk of “laying it down”."

Thank you, I needed to hear that. As badly as I wanted that load, I know this is true.

I'm thinking of trying when it gets down to 25. I'd love to hear what more experienced drivers think.

Thank you so much. You’re right that the extra training isn’t going to hurt, and could help. And the extra practice on the range and on the road will certainly help.

I feel like I could pass the test today, if I had a truck to take it in. But you’re right, if I took it and failed, that would be disappointing to say the least. At least this way, I’m more likely to pass on my first attempt, which was my plan and hope from the beginning.

Thank all of you so much, you've made some good points and helped me a lot.

To answer some questions, the first school was a company school financed through a local community college. I was thinking if they’re starting me over, the previous contract may not be valid any longer, but I could be wrong.

I don't feel like the instructors really care whether we succeed or not. Since the company isn't financing us themselves, because the financing is coming from a local community college, and I haven't seen one instructor act as though he was willing to spend any time at all one on one with a student to help them with something they’re struggling with. It seems like they’re just running the school as another money maker, but maybe I’m wrong.... I hope I am.

But I will go back and finish out there, work for them for the first year to fulfill the contract, then decide what my next step will be.

Again, thank you all so much for the help.

Hi, I have a situation where I’m not quite sure what to do. I attended a company school, but got sick the week I was supposed to test out. Got tested for covid, and it came back positive. So I had to leave the school and go i to quarantine. I’m over covid and out of quarantine now. The school i was at said they can bring me back in as a permitted student, which basically means I’m starting over, because I came in as a permitted student the first time. I had become unhappy with the school while I was there. I felt the driving instructor was pushing me to drive faster than I was comfortable with, considering I had only driven a truck on the range at 2 mph. My first time to drive on the road, I was between 40-50mph in a 55, had only been in the driver’s seat a few minutes, was still getting accustomed to watching the road in front of me and the trailer behind me at the same time, and he was complaining about how slow I was going... wanted me to at least get up to 50. Maybe this is normal, i don't know, but that was my first tome to drive a big rig at faster than 2mph.

There were other things that happened with me, and one incident with another student that I witnessed, that made me unhappy with the instructors at this school. So while I was in quarantine, I did lots of research into other options. I found a few possibilities.

This morning I spoke with a truck driver with another company. His company would put me through their school, covering all the costs except my food and laundry. The biggest difference is after the school training, the first company sends me OTR with a trainer for 6 weeks. His company would would send me out with a driving mentor for 2-3 weeks, or until that mentor was confident that I was ready to go out on my own. I like that. But I can see the advantage of having more time with an OTR trainer too.

So here’s my question....

Should I speak with the director at that school about what happened and give them another chance, since they’ve already done some of my training? Or should I go with another company, possibly the one whose driver I spoke with this morning?

Thank you in advance for any help you can give.