Question:
While rolling down the road, you'll be able to hear your tires 'humming' on the pavement.
If it's raining, you'll be able to hear the water splashing as your tires roll.
When the road has a thin layer of ICE, you won't hear any of that! It's like someone hit the 'mute button'.
Keep your window down just a little bit so you can 'hear' the changes in the road.
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"Got the bird dog on...
Dodgin' the scales...
80 miles an hour and a step outta jail..." From "Rollin' Home, Pirates of the Mississippi)
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"I've always been different with one foot over the line.
Winding up somewhere, one step ahead or behind.
It ain't been so easy, but I guess I shouldn't complain.
I've always been crazy, but it's kept me from going insane." (from Waylon Jennings)
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Member: Happy Dweller Society
Owner Operator Division


Answer:
Hey Hoss is that the quiet before the "OH SH*T!!!" muttered?
Truck safe this winter.
Happy Dweller Society - Canadian Division
Answer:
but I prefer to look at the car or truck in front of me and look for water spray. If the roads look wet and there is no spray or very little, chances are you're on black ice
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When your in a Star Car, nothing else is needed to be said

Answer:
Originally posted by Star-rider:
but I prefer to look at the car or truck in front of me and look for water spray. If the roads look wet and there is no spray or very little, chances are you're on black ice
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When your in a Star Car, nothing else is needed to be said
Is that you can have a nice little coating of water on top of the ice increasing the illusion that you are merely driving on wet roads.
Please do not get me wrong. Watching for spray is just one of the tools/tricks a driver needs to use when combating adverse winter driving conditions, but shouldnt rely on it alone.
I will always be a mutter trucker at heart.
Answer:
Monitoring of an outdoor temperature gauge along with being alert being the wheel as to the changing road conditions in the immediate vicinity as far as you can see down the road is the ticket here.
It happened to me once when I was driving. Coming through upstate NY last November when the weather turned nasty and the white stuff started dropping.
Roads were already wet with the snow, but when I saw the temperature drop I lowered the speed a notch or two and said to myself "...the fun is about to start...". And indeed it did, the first "fun" was noticing the 4 wheelers sliding off the road... then came the jackknifed trucks. It became quite the mess, yet there was still the occasional "supertrucker" out there in the hammer lane blowing our collective doors off. I saw one of them later off into the median.
And then there was the fool in the SUV who spun out in front of us on the Interstate. The guy landed up on the left side partially in the median. He puts it into reverse and backs across three lanes to get back into the right lane. I was in the right lane, another semi coming up on the lane beside me and a 4 wheeler in the hammer lane. There was traffic behind all three of us. All I can say is it was a good thing for the SUV driver that all three of us in the lead were taking it easy and alert to what was going on ahead.

Answer:
You cannot rely on water spray. Road temp differences can change rapidly over short distances.
Just running through a low spot on the highway can change from water to ice, then back too water almost instantly.
This is where many drivers find themselves in trouble. Water "was" spraying, their running 65mph, then, all of a sudden, their on top of ice at 65mph. It's Too late!!
Once a rig starts to slide from the ice to the water again, the water is not going to help you regain traction. Your going to slide and jack knife on the water too!!

Answer:
I think I read this post last year.
Watching for spray from the tires of other vehicles is a very good indicator of black ice. But by the time you've realized there is no spray and the road looks wet. It's a little to late. As indicated above you can't rely on it and just go as fast as you want. Definatly a wet shiney looking road and no spray you have hit black ice. The road is frozen solid in that case. Also as Hoss stated things become very quiet inside the truck. Normal road noises and vibrations seem to dissappear. Another indication your riding on a very smooth surface of ice. Another very good indicator is of course the outside temp. At 34 the road will not freeze except for bridges where it is cooled even more by air passing under it. There is also areas where the temp is below norm, passes, washes or where ever a breeze might blow that will cause a freeze. You can also hit some bad places left over from the last storm that didn't melt away. While the rest of the road may be wet and you see the spray from tires. basicall when it's cold and near freezing just slow it down.
So far I have found that the salt trucks do a pretty good job of keeping it salted and keeping the road from freezing. But there are those areas that freeze anyway. So know the temp and keep an eye on the indicators around you. Most importantly if you are afraid, and that is normal. I've sucked a seat cushion or two up my self. Park the truck. Deadlines don't matter, billy Big Super trucker calling you a rookie on the CB doesn't matter, your dispatcher doesn't matter and most importantly your own pride doesn't matter. If it looks bad and you dont feel right about driving in the conditions or question your ability against road conditions then don't. Very simple actually, park it.
'Carpe Diem' does not mean 'fish of the day'.
"If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles."
[This message was edited by Stuffs on December 24, 2003 at 22:28.]