It’s only a matter of time before winter rolls in to stay for awhile and as Canadians we all know that winter weather can be a challenge to negotiate out on the highway.
Sometimes it is almost impossible to see where the road ends and the ditch begins. Add blowing snow to the mix and the situation can get pretty sketchy in a split second. Under extreme conditions it is a testament to the drivers of big rigs that more don’t end up in the ditch.
When temperatures go below -30 ending up in the ditch, whether its day or night, presents a whole new set of problems. Not just for the driver of the rig, but for the tow truck operators as well. Keeping warm and safe while working with thousands of pounds of frozen steel is a difficult process. Because the human body is mostly made up of water and we know that water freezes at -32C, getting stuck in the ditch on a -40 night becomes more of a rescue than a tow.