subject: Driving Your Truck Safely Through Snow [print this page] Even after graduating from tucking school you want to make sure that you are continuing to learn how to drive. There are many real life experiences that you will need to be open to learn from when you start driving on the road.
Weather conditions can be very hard to drive through. You want to make sure that you understand what you have learned in trucking school and that you use your common sense to drive safely when the conditions are far less than perfect.
Trying to make a deadline can make it very stressful to drive safely in poor conditions. The company that you are driving for may be mad at you if you come in late but you will be in much more trouble if you total one of their trucks.
Taking the time to be safe on the road is well worth it. You want to make sure that you understand how you are going to drive safely in conditions that make the road a scary place to be any time of the day.
Driving in the snow and on the ice can make it very difficult to be safe. Taking the time to remember what you learned in school and to refresh yourself on some tips that will keep you safe is very important.
First, you want to make sure that as soon as you feel your truck start to slide on any ice that you take your foot off of the gas pedal. Giving your truck more gas to get through the situation can be one of the worst decisions.
Giving your truck the opportunity to slow down on its own is very important. This can be very scary giving your tuck the control of the situation but you have to make sure that as soon as you feel this you take your foot off of the gas pedal.
Second, you want to make sure that you do not slam on the brakes when you are sliding on the ice. As you slide on the ice and slam on your brakes your truck may start to spin out of control and this can be dangerous to you and those driving around you.
As you feel this phenomenon it may be natural to slam your foot down on the pedal. Instead of doing this you can tap the brake lightly so that your car does not start to spin out of control from the pressure of the brakes.
Third, if you know that there are trouble spots on your route you want to be prepared for them. Watch the cars ahead of you on the road and if you notice that they are starting to slide from side to side or even back and forth you want to be ready for the ice.
A great way to prepare yourself and your truck for the ice is to downshift. Not only will this force you to slow down but because of the slower speed you will have much more control of your vehicle if you are to hit the ice.
Watching the cars in front of you can be very hard if you are in a storm that does not give you much visibility. When you are in this situation you may be able to at least see the taillights of the people in front of you.
Even when you cannot see the people in front of you, you want to make sure that you are giving yourself plenty of room between your vehicle and those in front of you. Do not tailgate someone just so you can see what is happening ahead of you.
The snow and the ice can make coming to a stop very difficult. When you tailgate someone and they slam on their brakes you may have a very difficult time avoiding contact with their vehicle or with other vehicles around you.
Even though you are driving a big vehicle you are not invincible on the road. During storms you will see plenty of trucks that have jackknifed and even rolled over on the road because they did not take the time to be safe.
There are very experienced drivers that do all they can to stay safe and still end up being in a bad situation. As you are driving you want to make sure that you are taking all precautions that you possible can on the road to ensure you are safe and the drivers around you are also safe.
