How a Trucking Company in Minnesota Stays Safe While Driving in Winter

As autumn turns into winter, the whole team here at your trucking company in Minnesota is once again thinking about how to stay safe on the road this season. Regardless of what kind of vehicle you drive, winter driving can potentially be a very dangerous activity, and we do everything we can to ensure that each and every one of our drivers follows the necessary precautions every time they get behind the wheel. Here are the different ways we stay safe on the road as the temperature drops—and how you or any other driver can stay safe, too:

• Knowing what to expect: As the old saying goes, success is 90 percent preparation. In terms of driving a truck in winter, you have a much better chance of staying safe if you know what conditions to expect each day. We encourage all of our drivers to look up the weather for their routes at the beginning of each shift, and to also subscribe to severe weather alerts for the areas in which they drive. The more you know, the better prepared you can be to meet any winter driving challenge.
• Going slow: When you are a commercial truck driver, one of your top priorities is always to complete the order as efficiently as possible. However, that goal can sometimes conflict with an even more important imperative, which is the safety of yourself and others. K-Way Express, Inc considers safety the most important thing, which is why we make sure our truck drivers know that they should slow down in extreme conditions. After all, many winter driving accidents are caused by driving too fast.
• Brake lightly: All of our trucks are equipped with the best possible brakes, but that doesn’t mean we want our drivers to test them out too harshly. During a storm, we remind all of our drivers to brake early and lightly, so that they do not swerve off the road. After they have successfully braked, they know to accelerate lightly and cautiously as well.
• Beware of black ice: Black ice on the road is dangerous enough in and of itself, but it becomes even more so when drivers mistake it for liquid rain water and fail to take the necessary precautions. There are two ways to spot black ice before you start to drive on it: checking the side of the road for ice buildups, and keeping an eye on the spray coming off of the wheels of the vehicles in front of you. If the driver is on black ice, there will not be any liquid spray.
• Maintenance: Finally, drivers have a better chance of staying safe all year round when they invest the time into proper vehicle maintenance. All of our truck drivers have a strong working knowledge of how to inspect and care for their vehicles’ basic functions, and we also have certified professionals inspect our trucks often, especially during extreme weather.

If you want to worth with a trucking company in Minnesota that takes safety seriously all year long, we invite you to get in touch with K-Way Express, Inc.