Winter is the season when driving can be most hazardous and deadly. Take a few moments to review some life-saving precautions.
By Darrel Canada
On December 5, 2013, I headed to Midland at 9:00 p.m. to be there for a large training class that my company was doing for one of our clients.
All of their personnel had arrived at the hotel while the weather was nice, so they were all in place where they belonged. This client trains their employees for 6-7 days at a time, so they have a lot invested in their employees, their time, and their equipment.
My family was detained because there was a funeral for my mom (Irma Dell Webb Canada) and she was buried on the same day I was leaving for Midland. The weather was getting very bad as far as travel conditions go, so I was weighing the risks versus the commitment that was already made by both companies to have the training session, as opposed to canceling it to another date in hopes of better weather.
I found it necessary to take one of our nurses and another safety tech with me to handle the volume of people that would be there for the training, so now the trip could potentially affect other families if something went wrong.
Traffic was moving and, after checking with the TxDOT about conditions, it appeared that none of the interstate was shut down or closed. We saw a car that was flipped up on its side as we neared Merkel, Texas. It was in the westbound lane median between the access road and I-20. The headlights were still on and two law enforcement personnel were there. Trucks and cars continued to zoom past us as if we were standing still. The sleet and rain were starting to come down a little more and the temperature was dropping into the teens.
It normally takes about 45 minutes to reach Sweetwater from Abilene, and we were only about 15 minutes behind schedule. As we neared Sweetwater, we began to see the red and blue flashing lights of emergency vehicles and law enforcement, an indication of problems up in front of us.
An 18-wheeler was jackknifed across the Eastbound lanes of I-20, so traffic had been moved to the access roads for both eastbound and westbound I-20 to keep things moving and to make it safer for emergency personnel to do their jobs.
Between Roscoe and Colorado City, there were more vehicles in the medians, turned up on their roofs or their sides. I kept wondering where these people learned to drive and why everyone was in such a hurry! How can people not see that these vehicles didn’t make it at the speed they were going, so why was the moving traffic still driving too fast for the conditions?
I did note that some of the professional truck drivers on the road were driving slow and had their flashing lights on. The majority of the truckers, though, were still driving 50 to 70 miles per hour and behaved as if the bad weather was non-existent. Maybe that has to do with getting paid by the amount of miles they put in. I don’t know, but I can tell you the situation was very hazardous and dangerous.
We finally arrived at our hotel at 2:00 a.m. with everything intact and everyone safe and sound! I breathed a sigh of relief as we began to unload our gear and check into the hotel. This trip would normally take us 2 hours and 15 minutes, but had turned into 5 hours. It was such a great feeling to know that we were finally going to get some rest and that we were safely out of harm’s way. The highways can be dangerous enough, but when rain, sleet, snow, wind, and poor visibility are added to the equation, the odds stack up against us very quickly.
That being said, I would like to share with you the following recommendations for winter driving!
- Warm up your vehicle and make sure the mirrors and windows are clean and clear.
- Be sure the spare tire is inflated and that you have a proper jack.
- Carry other tools such as a shovel, flashlight, ice scraper, jumper cables, etc.
- Always wear your seatbelt and make sure your vehicle is full of fuel.
- Allow extra time to get to your destination.
- Drive at a slower speed—one that allows you to maintain control of your vehicle.
- Slow down before getting to an intersection or before crossing a bridge.
- Use extreme caution when driving in mixed sleet and snow or icy conditions
- Do not drive with the cruise control set on slick, wet, or icy roads.
- Do not pass sanding trucks or snow plows—their visibility is limited already.
- Brake gently to avoid skidding.
- If vehicle starts to skid, let off on the accelerator and steer into the skid.
- Travel with your lights on, including emergency flashers.
- Allow at least three times the (normal) space between you and the vehicle in front of you.
- Keep extra blankets, jackets, sleeping bags, snacks, and water available.
- The best rule of thumb to use is this: if at all possible, don’t take your chances driving in these conditions. In law enforcement we would go to Plan B and try to stay parked in one place until a call came out.
- Driving is a serious business and when people don’t take heed on any of the warnings, they have a greater chance of being seriously injured or killed, or of injuring or killing someone else.
- Check your company policies, procedures, and training programs for the Right Thing to Do!
Darrel Canada is president and Master Trainer at Canada and Associates Safety Training LLC, based in Abilene, Texas, with offices also in Snyder, Midland, and Carrizo Springs, Texas. Find them at canada-associates.com.