Winter truck driving is just about impossible to avoid entirely. Even if you’re located in warmer weather, the odds of you encountering some level of winter weather are pretty high. This is why Lily Transportation is committed to equipping its drivers with all the skills, winter driving tips, and equipment they’ll need to thrive behind the wheel, no matter what weather they face.
Here are several of the ways we help prepare our driver for winter trucking conditions:
1) Skid Prevention
Winter is well-known for its unpredictable weather. You can have sunshine in the morning and then be in a blizzard by lunch-time. Which, as you can imagine, makes it difficult to plan ahead for the day when even the weather forecast can’t be trusted all the time.
When you’re driving in winter weather, you must know how to handle your truck in the case of icy road conditions. Skidding is dangerous in any context and can occur as a result of wet or slippery roads, high speeds, worn tires, or heavy braking. To ensure that our drivers are prepared for anything—even skidding—as part of our truck driver safety checklist, we have a few winter truck driving tips to help them stay safe:
- Ease off on the accelerator when encountering tight turns or slick roads
- If you start to skid, turn your front wheel in the same direction the rear wheels are sliding
- Slow down gradually
- Give yourself plenty of time to brake when approaching intersections or stop signs/lights
- Keep the truck trailer straight before braking
If you ever find yourself actively skidding, then you should depress the clutch as soon as possible, look at the left mirror only, and focus on steering (and counter-steering) so you can get yourself back in front of the trailer.
Winter truck driving can be tricky, and Lily Transportation is committed to ensuring each of our drivers is more than well-equipped for anything and everything the winter roads could throw their way.
2) Regular Winter Driving Tips
While Lily Transportation commits a lot of time and resources to fully training our drivers, we also acknowledge that there will always be new things to learn. This is why we regularly hold driver training sessions and provide literature with any new tips and tricks to keep them informed current.
Whether it’s a live broadcast on our communication television at the Lily distribution center, posted as a simple flyer in a common area, on one of our social media accounts, handed out in a driver training meeting, or word-of-mouth shared around the watercooler, everyone at Lily is devoted to learning whatever we can whenever we can.
Winter driving tips, in particular, are always relevant, and we never pass up an opportunity to let our team know when there’s a new tip or development they can benefit from.
3) Providing Drivers with the Highest Quality Equipment
There are countless winter truck driving tips we can (and do) share with our drivers, but arguably the best thing anyone can do during the winter months is to have the best equipment on their side. For example, Lily’s entire fleet of vehicles is comprised of brand new and late model trucks that we continuously and meticulously maintained for maximum safety, efficiency, and comfort.
This way, we know that all of our drivers are operating vehicles that are capable of handling anything the winter season could come up with.
If you want to learn more about how Lily Transportation prepares its driver for winter driving conditions, get in touch with us today! We’d love to talk to you about our job openings, the benefits we offer, and the many ways we provide for our drivers all year long.
