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Truckers may not be able to stay home, but people traveling to their grandmother's house, sports teams traveling to tournaments, church groups going on trips, etc. could have either stayed home or left earlier. This storm was expected.
Your last sentence is the exact opposite of what happened, though. The National Guard was called out to help these people who shouldn't have been on the road in the first place. The PTC crews had an even tougher time cleaning up, and had to go do it ahead of schedule. The "government" didn't shift away from helping motorists; they had to help motorists who shouldn't have acted so entitled and should have known better.
I suspect that in blizzards and storms past, people stayed off the roads, making it not as bad as its been lately in terms of people getting stuck. Nowadays people like to just do what they want and then blame the weather man or say it got worse quicker than they expected, instead of using their brains and exercising caution. Oh, but they have SUVs, so they will be fine! Until they aren't...
As for truckers, I have friends who currently drive truck, and a lot of national carriers would rather reschedule a load than risk what happened this weekend. A smaller outfit might want to, too, rather than risk having its driver face DOT sanctions. But I'm more forgiving of the trucks that might not be able to reschedule than I am of people who could have, and should have, left earlier or just stayed home.
I worked for one of the largest companies LTL companies at one time. After running one load to the City I still had hours to drive. The roads had turned to solid ice and I had barely made it back to my terminal. I told our dispatcher that it was not safe to be on the road. It didn't make any difference; he had freight that he had to have in Newburg, NY and he basically told me that I would be fired if I did not go - we could never refuse to do our job (it would be grounds for dismissal).
I barely made it out of our yard and only three hundred yards down the road when my whole rig started to slide off the road and was stuck. I called dispatch and informed them of my predicament and they dispatched a wrecker. The wrecker got me back on the road and I had to continue the trip - regardless of the conditions!
Truckers were never in the position where they could simply tell their dispatchers that they thought it was too dangerous. It is possible that some dispatcher had learned from past experiences not to take chances during bad weather? But, like you sitting at home in a chair, they made the decisions for the drivers that actually had to perform the work.
People are humans; we all make mistakes. Some mistakes cannot be avoided. Your perfect world does not exist. As far as my last statement: I am 69 and simply do not remember these problems many years ago. Possibly I never thought about or were 'exposed' to it thirty/forty/fifty years ago? But my feeling is that PennDOT shifted away from helping motorist to protecting their own butts. We had blizzards and major snow storms back then; I just don't remember the problems.
By the way, how do you think the truckers stuck on the roads for many hours during the storm, are supposed to clear their roofs?
I worked for one of the largest companies LTL companies at one time. After running one load to the City I still had hours to drive. The roads had turned to solid ice and I had barely made it back to my terminal. I told our dispatcher that it was not safe to be on the road. It didn't make any difference; he had freight that he had to have in Newburg, NY and he basically told me that I would be fired if I did not go - we could never refuse to do our job (it would be grounds for dismissal).
I barely made it out of our yard and only three hundred yards down the road when my whole rig started to slide off the road and was stuck. I called dispatch and informed them of my predicament and they dispatched a wrecker. The wrecker got me back on the road and I had to continue the trip - regardless of the conditions!
Truckers were never in the position where they could simply tell their dispatchers that they thought it was too dangerous. It is possible that some dispatcher had learned from past experiences not to take chances during bad weather? But, like you sitting at home in a chair, they made the decisions for the drivers that actually had to perform the work.
People are humans; we all make mistakes. Some mistakes cannot be avoided. Your perfect world does not exist. As far as my last statement: I am 69 and simply do not remember these problems many years ago. Possibly I never thought about or were 'exposed' to it thirty/forty/fifty years ago? But my feeling is that PennDOT shifted away from helping motorist to protecting their own butts. We had blizzards and major snow storms back then; I just don't remember the problems.
By the way, how do you think the truckers stuck on the roads for many hours during the storm, are supposed to clear their roofs?
I know that this may sound like Nazi government overreach, but if the roads are that bad the DOT should should impose restrictions and extra fines. The onus shouldn't be put solely on the driver to risk his/her life or sit on the sidelines and not get paid. I think there should be driving bans and layover pay for these special emergency type of situations. So what if the end consumer has to pay an extra 3 cents for his Brillo detergent.
I know that this may sound like Nazi government overreach, but if the roads are that bad the DOT should should impose restrictions and extra fines. The onus shouldn't be put solely on the driver to risk his/her life or sit on the sidelines and not get paid. I think there should be driving bans and layover pay for these special emergency type of situations. So what if the end consumer has to pay an extra 3 cents for his Brillo detergent.
While you want everything shut down; don't forget there are those that always have to be out on the road. We have firefighters, police officers, emergency medical personnel, and many others that have jobs that depend on them to be there. Sometimes there are millions of dollars at stake on the job and you want the State to close down the roads on a weather prediction (that might or might not come to pass). Plus you have all of those workers, at work, that have to get home - or did you expect work to cancel that day? Real life isn't just our kids in school and government that wants to error on the side of safety.
Many truckers drive through other states. What is amazing is the difference between snow removal. Some states do a great job removing snow and others do not - the difference can be like night and day. Vermont, that we would think has great snow removal; has virtually no snow plows on the road after the sun goes down (or at least that was the case when I drove through the State). Massachusetts does a great job on snow removal and all of the surrounding states do a miserable job. Massachusetts also gets more than their fair share of snow. In PA, as you drive across our State, our different highway districts and highway sheds demonstrate different degrees of competency. Some do a great job and some do not.
To pay taxes; government relies on the private sector to do their job so that they have the money to do theirs. The private sector depends on government to do their job so we can do ours!
I know that this may sound like Nazi government overreach, but if the roads are that bad the DOT should should impose restrictions and extra fines. The onus shouldn't be put solely on the driver to risk his/her life or sit on the sidelines and not get paid. I think there should be driving bans and layover pay for these special emergency type of situations. So what if the end consumer has to pay an extra 3 cents for his Brillo detergent.
If a state starts fining truck carriers, what will probably happen is the carriers' customers will balk when the carriers try to pass those fines onto them (as they should), leaving the carriers to pay the fines. I'd guess the carriers would try to alter their rates so that those fines could be covered in the rates.
I would guess that the size of the carrier plays a major role as to whether the trailer roofs are cleared of snow (in addition to where the truck was when the snow started to fall or stopped - at the terminal or on the road). Large carriers, the ones that operate nationally or regionally and have large fleets (like Schneider National, JB Hunt, Swift, YRC Worldwide, Con-Way, Arkansas Best, and a number of others), probably have equipment to clear the trailer roofs at their facilities. The smaller carriers that have only have a few trucks or are independent owner-operators (driver who owns and operates his own truck) are less likely to have access to that equipment. I think most (though not all) drivers will try to do what they can do, but in some cases they may not be able to do too much to clear the roofs of their trailers.
Incidentally, I don't think anyone expected the 1/22-1/23 snowstorm to be as big as it was in parts of southwestern PA, though I will say, as others have already noted in this thread, that the weather on and near the Allegheny Front can often be dicey in the winter and drivers should plan on that unpredictability.
I would guess that the size of the carrier plays a major role as to whether the trailer roofs are cleared of snow (in addition to where the truck was when the snow started to fall or stopped - at the terminal or on the road). Large carriers, the ones that operate nationally or regionally and have large fleets (like Schneider National, JB Hunt, Swift, YRC Worldwide, Con-Way, Arkansas Best, and a number of others), probably have equipment to clear the trailer roofs at their facilities. The smaller carriers that have only have a few trucks or are independent owner-operators (driver who owns and operates his own truck) are less likely to have access to that equipment. I think most (though not all) drivers will try to do what they can do, but in some cases they may not be able to do too much to clear the roofs of their trailers.
Incidentally, I don't think anyone expected the 1/22-1/23 snowstorm to be as big as it was in parts of southwestern PA, though I will say, as others have already noted in this thread, that the weather on and near the Allegheny Front can often be dicey in the winter and drivers should plan on that unpredictability.
I just wanted to say NO to the size of the carrier matters. It does matter if you are in the terminal when it snows; but trucks don't make our living sitting around the terminal so we are prepared for the next snow/ice event. I drove for those major carriers; we are out there picking up and delivering and transporting freight during almost all major storms. I have driven in blizzard conditions and icy roads.
I was just reminded that you, the customer, demand the goods that we transported. Can you picture people going out for X-Mas shopping and the stores are empty, you run out for milk and there is no milk, or you are sitting in the cold and waiting for the generator to be delivered. You have to keep in mind that only a very small percentage of Americans are self-sufficient. Many of us have no supplies for more than just a few days and those supplies have to get to you one way or another.
I give them all the room they need...and more. My mother taught me to drive, but dad taught her. You'll never find me right behind a snow covered rig, a car carrier, or an overloaded open bed truck.
That's me, I keep lots of distance between me and any other vehicle, not just a semi. I may drive fast but I never tailgate, ever. Stopping distance and all that.
That being said, there's plenty of videos online where there's plenty of space between vehicles and a chunk goes flying off and shatters the other driver's windshield. Clear your roof, folks. Semi or not.
That's me, I keep lots of distance between me and any other vehicle, not just a semi. I may drive fast but I never tailgate, ever. Stopping distance and all that.
That being said, there's plenty of videos online where there's plenty of space between vehicles and a chunk goes flying off and shatters the other driver's windshield. Clear your roof, folks. Semi or not.
When was the last time you saw a Semi with a ladder or shovel? Companies just do not give truckers the means to clear their roofs - other than tank trailers. I would venture to guess that more truckers would die clearing their roofs than we would save motorist. It is a simply thing to slow down and give a rig additional space - it isn't that simple to clear a very, very, slick aluminum roof 13 feet 6 inches off the ground with ice and snow on it (especially if it is windy).
If you really want the job done; rewrite the law so that all companies that ship are legally and financially responsible for cleaning the roof of the trucks that haul their goods. That will never happen! So you dump the problem on the truckers and then you don't give them the tools to safely do the job!
To show you the extent of the problem (besides no tools to do the job); try Goggling companies that come to the truckers and remove the snow and ice. Actually a roof rake would get most of it; but you don't see trucks with roof rakes and you would still have left over snow and ice.
When was the last time you saw a Semi with a ladder or shovel?
Wasn't a semi but my truck had a ladder attached and I always had a shovel. If you think that aluminum is slippery try some SS that's been polished by years of coal sliding over it. Always hated that job, fell on my ass more than once. Shoveling it out was necessity, snow makes the coal not want to run down the chute especially if it wet or melting.
Wasn't a semi but my truck had a ladder attached and I always had a shovel. If you think that aluminum is slippery try some SS that's been polished by years of coal sliding over it. Always hated that job, fell on my ass more than once. Shoveling it out was necessity, snow makes the coal not want to run down the chute especially if it wet or melting.
Do they still wash the coal in the freezing weather? I know that it was always wet when delivered in the summer.
I have been on a few roofs because of holes that had to be patched when I worked dock. Whether it was aluminum or fiberglass; both were very slippery with a light dusting of snow or coating of ice. My feeling is that many of the posters, that think truckers should climb up and clear their roofs, would quickly change their tune if they tried to stand on one of these 13'6" tall roofs with ice or snow.
There is the other problem of the snow when it is removed from the roof. Terminals that do have stationary roof plows must constantly run snow plows or loaders to keep the snow from building up under the roof plow. Otherwise the trucks get higher and higher and damage their roof or the roof plow. If truckers did have roof rakes and could pull off most of the snow; that would create more problems. These roof surfaces are large: 8'6"X53' = about 450 square feet. If that roof is covered with 30" of snow; that is a pretty good pile when removed. to just toss that pile in a parking lot or, worse yet, on the side or in the road could lead to other problems.
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If you think that aluminum is slippery try some SS that's been polished by years of coal sliding over it. Always hated that job, fell on my ass more than once. Shoveling it out was necessity, snow makes the coal not want to run down the chute especially if it wet or melting.
