DOT Core · Driver Training VideoWinter & Adverse Weather

Rule one: speed for conditions is not a suggestion. On packed snow, cut your speed by half. On anything that might be ice — the question isn't how fast, it's whether to drive at all.

Know black ice by its signs: pavement that looks wet but isn't spraying off other tires. Ice building on your mirror arms, antenna, or wiper blades — the truck tells you before the road does. Bridges, overpasses, and ramps freeze first and thaw last.

Space is your survival tool

Double your following distance — sixteen seconds isn't paranoid, it's arithmetic. Stay out of packs. That comfortable rolling cluster of cars around you? In a chain-reaction pileup, that's the chain.

Smooth is the whole technique: gentle throttle, early gentle brakes, gradual lanes. The jackknife starts with a stab at the brake or a yank at the wheel. If drive wheels spin, back off. If you start to slide, look and steer where you want to go, off the brakes.

Know when to park

There is no load worth a rollover, and shut-down decisions belong to the driver in the seat — nobody at a desk can see your windshield. Your company backs the driver who parked. Late is a phone call; a wreck is a career.

Before winter trips: fuel above half with winter blend or anti-gel, washer fluid that won't freeze, bunk heater tested, food, water, blanket, flashlight, gloves in the cab. Chains if your lanes require them — practiced in a dry lot, not learned on a mountain.

Your company standard: half speed on snow. Double space. Smooth inputs only. Bridges treated as ice. And when conditions beat the schedule — park, and call. That call will always be answered with respect.