At your house Portland sucks for places to park a big truck .

 

Good answer but unfortunately I'm really talking about all the trucks either coming into or leaving Portland today when the snow hit, the snow that surprised the city work crews and the weather forecasters. :shock: :wink: :roll:

 

Not to be a smarty about this, but if there is grid lock, and you know you're not going to be moving. Why not hop out, put on a chain or two (I have done it without moving the vehicle). Get yourself to a safe place, and then chain up the rest of the way?

 

I got stuck behind a shopping center for 4 days 2 yrs ago during that big ice storm they had.

 

That's not "smarty" at all and a wise thing to do and say. Done that myself.

 

I think I learned to chain two very significant ways.

1. How to chain up when the roads got bad, but that was usually AFTER i got into the shit.

2. When to chain up, because now you chained BEFORE you get into the shit.

Plan 2 requires seat time, but once you got it, you save yourself a lot of grief.

There is no substitute for observing and planning.

Oh ya, to stay on topic, I would not work for a company that would not supply me with chains. To me that would be like a hospital saying to a Doctor "yes we will hire you, but you have to supply your own X-ray machine".

And if a company has that kind of attitude towards safety, chains are a safety item, I would wonder how they viewed the rest of what they did.

 

I drive for TRL and they told us on the first day they provide chains for us. But the funny thing is how they told us to put themon the truck. "Open side box and put them in" if things are that bad get off the road.

 

I would agree with that ONLY if they are talking about flat ground, because if you need chains for flat ground, then it is ice and you should probably park until it isn't.

But, if a person thinks like that in the mountains, then you need to park the truck in October and start it up again in April. In my world, chains are a very significant part of getting up and over the mountain passes safely.

 

That puzzled me to because i know it can snow sometimes late in May in some areas out west.

 

the company i presently drive for doesn't run in the NW,matter of fact,the farthest west i've been is san antonio tx,so i don't carry chains.

but i have worked for a company that did run all 48 and we carried chains which was provided to me by my fleet owner,and even then,if it was bad enough to chain up,my truck didn't move,even if i was on my way home,didn't matter to me how bad the rec wanted his freight,he was going to wait until i felt it was safe to move the truck,there is not one peice of freight out there that is more important than my life and the life of others on the road