Slick Roads and Work Travel

driving in bad weather never bothered me. the old lady....oooops….I mean the loving wife and I have made it a point to go out and drive in blizzards since we met, sometimes i'd get home from work and she'd have a fresh cups of hot coffee ready for the excursion. back when we couldn't afford a 4x4 anything, I always made sure I drove a big heavy vehicle with good snow tires. and never had problems, I did pull a couple out of snow banks with my Buick Estate wagon one night. when I got a 4x4, it wasn't really for the extra traction for me, but for getting out of the way of idiot drivers. shucks...we used to got to town and chase cops, we had it made cuz the governing bodies were to cheap to buy snow tires for their cruisers! lol last year was the only year we didn't get to drive ina blizzard, only cuz we never got one!

DanWi wrote: A Weathertech floor liner commercial comes to mind the mother gets a message on her phone, no school today, so she hollers to the children get ready and get in the suv we are going sledding. If they had to cancel school should she be out driving with the children in her suv?

Well....yes. They cancel school these days at the drop of a hat compared to years ago.

I'm "lucky?" in that I started my career and worked many years running dump trailers hauling road salt to all the highway department yards all over northern Ontario along the shores of Lake Superior on the Trans Canada Highway. Lots of big hills and blinding white outs. Many trips with a ski mask and winter jacket on, head out the driver side window looking for a snow bank to know if you were still on the road, or abandoned cars on highway in front of you.

When I worked winters for MDOT I questioned the idea of on time delivery! Trucks hauling freight including doubles like UPS and Conway would always be driving like they wanted to meet their maker! And the car drivers drove as if possessed! I remember one night the wind had been blowing about 40mph out of the West and it was about zero. I was sanding because salt wouldn't work at the temperature. A woman coming home from work had driven out into a field as she couldn't see the road. By the time I came up on her the wind had died so I saw her four way flashers. We were told to assist stranded drivers but not to pull them out,so I stopped and talked to the lady. She said she was ok and had called a wrecker. I said where from? She said Morenci. I knew that Morenci was on a north/south road and would be plugged with snow. So I went on and finished my route and the State Road I would plow next was to Morenci. I started down that road and it was plugged but the Cummins in my truck was making music as the front plow and the side wing pushed snow. I got to the small town of Canadagua and there was the wrecker! I got out and told him the way was clear and as soon as I got back from Morenci I would sand the road good so he could pull the lady out. When I got back the wrecker was waiting and I made the road look like a beach! We had other assists that year. One driver saved two women stuck on a side road as their car got stuck and quit. He got them both in the truck" how I don't know" and kept them warm until other help arrived. People on there way to and from work took precedence for me! The ones that were out joyriding I would stop and make sure they were all right but didn't offer extra assistance! One guy I found stuck in a snow drift I asked what are you doing out here this late at night? He said I heard on the TV the roads were bad. I said well you found out they were right!

jaybmiller wrote: re: the new breed of imported truck drivers, reminds me of the Burlington Bay Skyway 'accident'. One of 'them', drunk, drove his dump trailer INTO the bridge.. HOW the blazes he got that far from the 'industrial zone' is beyond me.... oh yeah, he got off....still driving !!! I don't bother letting ANYONE in ahead  of me, big or small , try to keep 1.4 car lengths behind....leave any more, my safety zone is filled up with 'them'

Yes I hear you. Skill levels are down and too many phones, and in-dash display screens and all the other distractions they keep putting in vehicles.

Drive down the 401 in the Toronto area and tell me what you think when you see the new transport drivers telemarketing while they are driving.