Winter Alert

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
January 7, 2010

One way to avoid crashes and injuries is to read about them and become more alert to how they happen.

In a Daily Herald article at www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=348990 this morning, there is a story about an Aurora man who was driving past an oncoming tractor-trailer unit on a surface street near Aurora. He was injured, when the truck passed under a low overpass and ice was scraped off the top of the trailer. The ice fell into the oncoming lane and struck the man's car.

These circumstances are probably something that most drivers don't consider when meeting an oncoming truck or following one. Allow safe distances when following, and provide a gap when meeting a truck at a bridge or overpass in this kind of weather.

I recall one day in good weather a few years ago, when I was on my motorcycle and following a lumber truck on Route 47 south from Woodstock. When the truck hit a bump in the road, a long board floated up and off the truck bed and remained suspended briefly in the air current behind the truck before falling to the roadway. In my mind's eye, I can still see that board floating and twisting. Fortunately, I was far enough behind the truck that I could watch the board and then drive around it, after it fell to the pavement.

Drive safely!