Idiots on the road


Just keep it clean please....

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 5171

Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:28 pm

Location: Lyman, IA

Post Sun Jan 15, 2017 2:23 pm

Idiots on the road

Last week I was in Wyoming when I-80 was closed almost from NE to UT. I chained up and went about as far as they would allow (they drop gates across the hiway in some areas). It never ceases to amaze, they number of truck drivers who drive in these areas that can't or will not learn to chain.
I found 4 barely used single tire chains for truck tires in a snow bank. They hadn't been run long enough to knock the paint off them, but hadn't been installed correctly and all were damaged. I know I can salvage 2 perhaps all 4. If I owned the truck or trucking company, I would view anyone who discarded my chains in the snowbank guilty of theft.
I have picked up so many sets over the years, I have more tire chains than wheels to put them on!
They will wear out eventually, so having extras is a good thing. I haven't had to buy any for years, in fact the last time I had to was when an oil company required chains on all wheels (steer included) of the tractor and one trailer axle chained! I normally carry enough to chain all drive tires and 2 trailer tires + one spare and a spare cross link.

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 8937

Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:45 pm

Location: Canada's left Coast

Post Sun Jan 15, 2017 3:14 pm

Re: Idiots on the road

Chaining up is required for trucks using British Columbia Highway 5, also known as The Highway Though Hell. It is very common to find Highway 5 closed because of big truck that have jack-knifed across the road. the roadway is properly signed indicating chain-up requirements.
While winter conditions make Highway 5 treacherous and going to visit my friend MAIHC MIKE difficult, it is the rash of unprepared drivers that keep me off that road.
The reality TRV shoe, Highway Through Hell is a taste of what the Coquihalla Pass is like. My daughter talked to Janie Davis and she was told there is enough carnage on the "Smasher" to make three shows every week.
Just over a year ago the provincial highways department decided the speed limit should be raised to 120km. These signs have been replaced with electronic sign boards that change the maximum speed limits to match the conditions
What ever happened to the old truckers rule, do not go faster down than your truck can go up. I have been passed by "B" trains going at my estimated 160kmh, down-hill. That many wheels kick so much water and shush into the air and visibility is 100% lost.
Sorry, Mike, I will see you in the spring, when you come to deliver the frame I bought from you. Maybe you should take the back road and the Canyon Route.
I would rather have tools I do not need than to need tools I do not have
Thinking risks being controversial and possibly being offensive

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 5171

Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:28 pm

Location: Lyman, IA

Post Sun Jan 15, 2017 4:50 pm

Re: Idiots on the road

I've seen that TV program, and its never the ones who put chains on all the drive axles and drag chains on the trailer that end up in trouble. Its always the ones who don't or think they are better than everyone else that cause the wrecks.
Same with "Ice road truckers" They hit some of the passes with only chains on the outboard wheels and then have "drama", if they just put 3 railers all around there wouldn't be anything to show on TV!
I ended up with 2 good singles, the other 2 are repairable, but I have so many sets, its not worth the trouble. I'll save them to repair others with.
I once was walking my dog in the back of a truckstop in MN, at about eye level, in the crotch of a tree was a canvas bag like tire chains come in. It had been there so long the tree had grown around it. I ripped it open expecting to find a chain, but it was full of cross links. Had it been a tire chain, the only way I could have retrieved it was with an ax, I got as many cross-links as I could but many were inside the tree!
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Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 4922

Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 11:47 am

Location: Bothell, Washington

Post Mon Jan 16, 2017 11:13 am

Re: Idiots on the road

reality is actually kind of boring, so "reality TV" creates false reality all the time "drama",

if the producers of Ice Road Truckers didn't tell those guys to "hey, why not drive over that under frozen lake?"

they wouldn't and there would be no show
Gentle Men! you can't fight in here! This is the war room!

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 458

Joined: Mon May 18, 2015 12:43 pm

Post Tue Jan 17, 2017 1:32 pm

Re: Idiots on the road

there is usually no reality in what they call reality TV. it is mostly scripted to create the drama. I don't watch any of it.

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 8937

Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:45 pm

Location: Canada's left Coast

Post Thu Jan 19, 2017 12:05 pm

Re: Idiots on the road

I love the feeling of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front.
I would rather have tools I do not need than to need tools I do not have
Thinking risks being controversial and possibly being offensive

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 609

Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:55 am

Location: Cassville, Wisconsin

Post Sat Jan 21, 2017 11:03 pm

Re: Idiots on the road

nikkinutshop wrote:I love the feeling of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front.


Could not agree more. I love to be part of the camaraderie.
1956 S-102 Short Bed BD240

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