18 Replies to “And How Was Your Day?”

  1. One reason I go out of my way to minimze driving beside Semi’s. Hope no one was hurt, hope FedEx recovered their packages.

    2. Elon Musk’s electric semis NEVER flip over in the wind. Because they’ll be ‘grounded’ in the wind. Stopped dead. Their battery range gets cut to 40mi in the wind. Electric semis can’t drive in the wind … even WITH every wind tunnel, slippery, streamlining, bit you add to the truck. But electric trucks sounnnnnnd soooooo kewwllllll!!

      Real world … meet Elon, the Magic man. He’s got the magic hands. A pretty botoxed man came to us, we’d never seen eyes so blue. We could not run away It seemed, we’d seen each other in a dream, it seemed like he knew me, he looked right through me … Yea. You don’t have to love me yet, let’s just get high awhile. But try to understand, try to understand, try, try, try to understand. He’s the magic man. Come on home, girl He said with a smile. He cast his spell of love on you – A woman back to a child … But try to understand … He’s the Magic Man

  5. It is one of the early lessons I learned when I started riding motorcycles; wind is a HUUUGE factor. You are riding at 45 degrees in a stiff cross wind, and you come to a treed yard beside the highway; suddenly you are not at 45 degrees, you are 3 lanes over quite quickly.

    Takes some getting used to.

    FYI, anyone who truly wants to learn how to drive, needs to take the motorcycle safety training course. They drilled habits into me, that will always be there. Before that course, I never looked over both shoulders when stopping at a light; now I always do. I never looked for people blowing through lights before going when it turned green; now I always do.

  6. That is why highway authorities close some bridges , such as at the Soo, to semis and vans.

  7. A number of things here.

    Those “accidents” are driver error. Only drive in proper conditions which don’t put others at possible risk of injury or death. If it is gusting at those speeds, pull over and reduce the hazard. Better to tip over stationary than this. If someone parks beside you, then they get what they a seeking-a Darwin Award.

    Noticing these trucks don’t have the new skirting which most highway units now have for reduced drag to improve diesel consumption. The increase in the surface area caused by these improvements also greatly increase the surface area, much like adding a larger sail to boat. More surface area, waay more force when experiencing these types of crosswinds.

    Driver also has to account for the load. If empty or hauling a truckload of Doritos, the sail effect is amplified exponentially. Hauling pallets of hardwood flooring, chances are that truck will stay rubber-side-down.

    Speed effects traction as well. Hitting any kind of bump in the road which can cause the weight of the unit to rise even slightly will cause the traction to be greatly reduced. That loss of traction will turn those into Frisbee-trucks.

    Reminders that not all truckers are “professionals”, because everyone makes mistakes, it is the pros who have the experience and wisdom to fix their mistakes, usually before they happen.

  8. BTW … I drove through Amarillo … ONCE … and my fine Bavarian saloon nearly flipped. Windy, windy place that Amarillo.

    1. For clarification, the QE II does not go south of Calgary. It is just Highway 2 after that.

  11. I live in Amarillo. We were gusting 75 mph in town, trees blown down, large signs blown down, power out in some neighborhoods. It’s unusual for the winds to be so high for so long.

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