To Ease Your Mind About Winter Driving...

I drove 587 miles yesterday to get out of PA and through Oh. I had 9 min left to my driving clock when I got to the first rest stop west of Indianapolis. At 4:30 am My weather alerts started sounding on my phone. High winds, ice and blowing snow through St. Louis. Heading to AR. Same exact route I was on when I had to shut down last weekend just going the opposite way. Frozen nuggets again. Lol. No qualms about it this time. I am not driving till these alerts lift. Got a big 10-4 from my FM. I just gave him the alert info I had, informed him I had enough fuel in my truck and reefer and DEF, and that today was not the day I was going to end up in a ditch.

I drove 587 miles yesterday to get out of PA and through Oh. I had 9 min left to my driving clock when I got to the first rest stop west of Indianapolis. At 4:30 am My weather alerts started sounding on my phone. High winds, ice and blowing snow through St. Louis. Heading to AR. Same exact route I was on when I had to shut down last weekend just going the opposite way. Frozen nuggets again. Lol. No qualms about it this time. I am not driving till these alerts lift. Got a big 10-4 from my FM. I just gave him the alert info I had, informed him I had enough fuel in my truck and reefer and DEF, and that today was not the day I was going to end up in a ditch.

Hunker down and ride it out.

I leave in the morning to go from Buffalo to Amherst, WI. Hopefully they keep the roads clear.

Grumpy said:

Thank you for this. Though I have told my wife this many times, I'm not sure she didn't think deep down that I was just saying it to make her feel better

She felt much better after I showed it to her and explained what it was. .

Cool. Thats what I was.hoping for. My family was nervous too, and I know.many drivers from the south who never saw a harsh winter are nervous.

Tell your wife dispatch doesn't want Rainy coming after them, so they won't push you into anything lol More people for my dungeon lol

When I was with Swift, I had one dispatcher threaten me, if I didn't get driving. So don't think it never happens. I have a habit of recording phone conversations. I then hung up the phone, called safety, and sent them the conversation. He called me 30 min later and half assed apologized then threatened a retaliation for reporting him, until I told him that I record every conversation. He is still with the company.

Grumpy said:

Thank you for this. Though I have told my wife this many times, I'm not sure she didn't think deep down that I was just saying it to make her feel better

She felt much better after I showed it to her and explained what it was. .

Cool. Thats what I was.hoping for. My family was nervous too, and I know.many drivers from the south who never saw a harsh winter are nervous.

Tell your wife dispatch doesn't want Rainy coming after them, so they won't push you into anything lol More people for my dungeon lol

We are in the snow belt, so I know how to drive in snow, maybe she thinks I'll push my luck because of it, but I have no desire to die, be maimed, kill someone else, or lose my job or license. If it is dangerous, I'll park.

LOL, I'll tell her.

When I was with Swift, I had one dispatcher threaten me, if I didn't get driving. So don't think it never happens. I have a habit of recording phone conversations. I then hung up the phone, called safety, and sent them the conversation. He called me 30 min later and half assed apologized then threatened a retaliation for reporting him, until I told him that I record every conversation. He is still with the company.

He would have been fired at my company without a recording. And i would have hung up on him and told him i have no cell service and to put it in writing lol

The guy confused me, because before, and after the incident, he regularly told me, and other drivers I was one of his favorite. He isn't a bad guy. My guess is that he was having a rough time getting other loads assigned. I was mt and on my way back to the DC when I got nailed by the weather near Syracuse.

When I was with Swift, I had one dispatcher threaten me, if I didn't get driving. So don't think it never happens. I have a habit of recording phone conversations. I then hung up the phone, called safety, and sent them the conversation. He called me 30 min later and half assed apologized then threatened a retaliation for reporting him, until I told him that I record every conversation. He is still with the company.

He would have been fired at my company without a recording. And i would have hung up on him and told him i have no cell service and to put it in writing lol

Dispatch is a job i wouldnt want. But if you cant handle pressure, dont apply for the job. Was he new? I have seen new dispatchers make some stupid decisions thinking they are doing their job. Me being who i am....I say "Thanks for your input. You made your decision, now I have to make.mine. It m8ght not be thr same as your recommendation." lol

Yeah, I think most drivers have no idea how much pressure their dispatchers are under. They are trying to juggle an incredible amount of things all at once. That's why they love having drivers that seem to need little or no attention. It's incredible how one little failure or mistake by one driver can snowball into 10 more problems for the dispatcher. That happens regularly/daily for them, and it's usually 10 - 20 drivers that are having issues. Each of those just keeps multiplying the problems the dispatcher has to handle.

We also got another message detailing which roads are closed.