Is Winter Driving On Your Mind?

Having never driven in the snow this is something I've thought about a lot too. My biggest question would be how do you know when its just some snow and not to worry and when its too much snow get the hell off the road. I mean my guess is its time too shut down before the blizzard stage. What's safe and what's being to bold?

Well the two main factors will be your vision and the road conditions. Sometimes you can see just fine but the road is slick as can be. Other times the road is fine but it's snowing so hard you can barely see past the end of your hood. Either way, I would stop if I wasn't comfortable enough to make reasonable progress. If you're creeping along slowly at like 25 mph because you can't see or the roads are slick you're just wasting your time. You're not getting anywhere and you're taking a huge risk.

When you don't feel comfortable just park it. It's no big deal. You'll know it when the time comes. You'll find yourself repeatedly wondering, "Is this worth it? Should I keep trying to push through this? I'm not sure if this makes sense or not." When you find yourself thinking that way then it's likely not worth it so just park it.

If they shut the interstate down, it's a sign you might not want to be on it. After a family trip many years ago, we were coming back south from Albuquerque when they closed it right behind us. All the trucks were pulled over on the side of the road. Between a quarter and a third of them seemed to have pickup trucks underneath their trailers. Dad was driving pretty slow. Once we hit the 2 lane road in Texas, the road itself was clear, but all the traffic was stopped because a wreck ahead was blocking both lanes and they were waiting on LifeFlite. 3-4 feet of snow on both sides of the road. That was the trip where we learned that gallon Ziploc bags can be very, very, very useful when you can't get to the rest stop!

This past winter I saw a tractor-trailer, on its side, on the side of the westbound lane of I-80, FACING EAST. The driver should have stopped somewhere.

Dave

I am bumping this to bring awareness to it again. The season is just around the corner and will be here before you know it.

The season is just around the corner and will be here before you know it.

In Ontario and Quebec, well all of Canada and the northern border states, it will soon be time to put winter tires on personal vehicles. Ontario is introducing a mandated Insurance discount for vehicles with winter tires, and Quebec has made it law that personal vehicles have winter tires from October to April. Winter tires are not just for snow conditions, although they are much better than summer or all season tires, they are made with a compound that has grip on cold surfaces. Summer tires, of course, work better on warm and hot road surfaces.

So as soon as the average temperature is below 7C my winter tires go on - like next week.

Daniel suggested:

Rookies have 1 advantage over everyone else on the road in the winter time. Sounds odd that I would say that, but think about it. Rookies have the element of fear. Fear is a good thing, it keeps you from doing stupid things and makes you drive extra safe. Fear makes you drive 30mph when everyone else is doing 60mph. Now obviously you can't tremble, but a healthy amount of fear will always do you good. The slower the safer you are. The super truckers are the biggest problem in the winter time. They have no fear and they've driven the road a million times before, so it seems their logic is because they've survived this dangerous road a million times in their past that they can drive it like its dry. Eventually, one day, their luck runs out.

This will be my third winter driving a semi, COULD NOT AGREE MORE. My suggestion to all the new drivers and students is to slow down, increase your following distance, and learn to finesse the controls of the truck, avoiding sudden braking and abrupt steering adjustments. Ignore the Super Truckers who risk life and limb for their paycheck. Drive within your skills and experience, not someone else's.

I grew up outside of Buffalo, NY so I've driven in more than my fair share of snow.

>

Brett - I moved from San Diego to Buffalo in '06 (lived on the West-side), worked for my brother at a Marriott and going to school. I was there for the October '06 Snow Storm, the Lake Effect storms can be really bad. I got a job offer to return to San Diego in '07. I will not live near a place that has "Lake Effect" weather again. :)

~scott

I will not live near a place that has "Lake Effect" weather again. :)

I don't blame you a bit. I grew up here so I love the people, love the food & sports culture, and love the snow. But I don't think too many people do well after moving here from other places, especially once the winter sets in. Actually a lot of people I know that grew up here barely survive the winters. By March they're pale white and sickly looking, they're 15 pounds heavier than they were in the fall, and they have this faraway zombie look on their face. In fact, they're this guy:

It's Spring!

My timing was; school in the fall, hired mid-December, out with trainer Dec./Jan., solo in February. If I had to do it over, I would do the same timing. That FEAR factor does make for more cautious driving, and I was with an experienced driver for the really nasty bits. Now I have had all spring, summer and fall to deal with the huge learning curve, and am ready to head into winter, though I'm not looking forward to snow and cold!

Flurries predicted tonight (Friday October 16, 2015) and off and on over Saturday into Sunday morning for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). I suspect that some areas south of Lake Ontario in NY state will see some as well. Winter in Canada and the USA is just a higher percentage of bad weather, but bad weather can take many forms and affect all sorts of area. Remember the floods in SC? Yesterday night a huge deluge hit the Grapevine area of California, closing the I-5 through the pass and US-58 with mud slides. I-80 through WY can be closed at almost any time due to snow - even in the summer.

Winter brings snow, and freezing conditions, but it's not the only weather you need to look out for.