With icy roads, snow storms and generally unwelcoming weather right around the corner, it is time to start preparing for winter. For those of you who are on the road most of the time, it’s important to make sure that you and your truck are ready for whatever comes your way. So what can you do to prepare? We’ve put together a list of tips to keep you safe this season.
You’ve heard it before: preparation is key. The best tip we can give for a safe, smooth ride is to do your prep work. Know your route, know where the best rest stops are and have a backup plan. Monitor the weather to figure out where the weather is the worst and where it is the best so you can better plan where you should stop. Keep extra essentials on-hand, both for you and for your truck. Good supplies to keep for you include an extra blanket, flashlight, coat, water and a charger. For your truck, it’s good to keep sand or salt, extra windshield-wiper fluid, jumper cables and a windshield scraper.
Know your truck. If you’re in the same truck you’ve been in for years, you know your truck’s limits and shortcomings. You know when you need to break, how it handles turns and how it drives on the ice. If you’re in a new truck, or are relatively new to the trade, it’s important to take these points into consideration before you head out into stormy weather. Give yourself extra space to turn and brake. And no matter how long you’ve been on the road, always watch out for black ice, which appears most often on bridges, intersections, overpasses and naturally cooler spots.
You always inspect your truck, you’ve been doing it for years, we know. Inspections are always important, but during the winter they’re crucial. Before your trip, double and triple check your lights, tires, fluid levels and windshield wipers. Make time during stop offs to check you truck again.
Depending on where you are, you probably still have time to get ready for the cold season. Here at Loadsmart, we want you to stay safe on the road. When the weather turns bad, it’s easy for both sides to get frustrated. With our GPS tracking and open chat platform features, we make it effortless to stay connecting, ensuring a better experience for everyone. Interested? Sign up for free here to access these tools and all of Loadsmart’s other features.