A heavy duty truck route sometimes calls for conquering a mountain. It’s best to avoid taking a commercial truck up a mountain’s steep slopes, but it may not be possible to avoid. When that’s the case, it’s important to utilize every safety strategy to ensure an incident-free trip. We’ve gathered up the following safety tips for navigating a mountain with your heavy duty truck. For more advice or to shop commercial trucks for sale, visit White’s International Trucks. We offer seven dealerships throughout North Carolina.
Keep The Commercial Truck In Good Condition
Safe mountain driving starts long before you hit the road. It starts with maintaining your heavy duty truck.
If all the parts and systems aren’t running well, there’s a higher chance of problems on challenging routes. Make sure your rig is in good condition, which will help it navigate steep mountain slopes better.
Check the owner’s manual for a maintenance schedule. Whether you handle the tasks alone or visit a service department, be sure they get done on time. Optimize your commercial truck’s performance, which helps it better handle challenging mountain routes.
Conduct A Pre-Trip Inspection
When it’s close to the departure date, give your heavy duty truck a thorough inspection. Check everything from the braking system to fluid levels to the lights. Verify that everything is functioning without issue. If you ever uncover a problem, get it repaired immediately.
During this inspection, pay extra attention to the parts that affect visibility. It’s important that you can clearly see any upcoming obstacles, hazards, and threats. Give your windshield, mirrors, and headlights a clean as needed. Caked-on gunk, water spots, and streaks can hurt your visibility and even lead to safety issues.
Check The Weather Forecast
Always look up the weather forecast for the day of your drive. Know the conditions and adapt accordingly, such as adding chains when needed.
Check The Route
Verify that your intended route is still possible. There could be sections of the mountain road closed due to a landslide, construction, and so on. It’s better to discover that in advance so you have plenty of time to come up with an alternate route.
Know The Grade
It’s crucial to know the grade and adapt your speed accordingly. There should be signs posted that tell you the speed you should use. Never take a slope at a faster speed than is recommended! Keep in mind that the suggested speed is usually referring to the recommended speed when road conditions are ideal. If there is something that affects the road conditions, such as a rainy day or the possibility of black ice, you should go lower than the posted speed.
Be Alert
Taking a heavy duty truck up a mountain brings some risks. There could be wildlife that darts into your path, black ice lurking up ahead, and so on. Get a great night’s sleep and a good meal before a drive and make sure you maintain your focus so you can adapt to sudden obstacles.
Even though you are driving up a cold mountain, it’s still possible for your commercial truck to overheat. Keep an eye on the temperature gauge and pull over if the truck starts getting overworked.
Be Slow
Heavy duty trucks are, well, heavy! All of their weight makes it easy to pick up speed, especially when going down a steep slope. It’s challenging to regain control once you start going too fast. Try to prevent this safety issue from happening and go down slopes slowly.
Be Cautious
Not every motorist on the mountain will be taking the proper precautions. They may be driving too fast, driving distracted, or even driving impaired. If they suddenly slam on their brakes or take a turn, you’ll want enough time to react…before a collision occurs. Leave plenty of space between yourself and the other motorists.
We hope you found this guide to taking a commercial truck up a mountain helpful. If you want to explore heavy duty trucks for sale, check out the selection at White’s International Trucks. Shop our inventory online or visit one of our seven truck dealerships throughout North Carolina.
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