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About Me
I'm the Pickups host here at Edmunds CarSpace.com - be sure to check out the Pickups forums if you have or are interested in one!
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The Big Rigs
We're gonna talk about the big ones... trucks and buses that require those 3 marker lights front and rear. Everything from dual rear wheel pickups to class 8 trucks to the bus that takes you to work.
 Yesterday, there was a rather unusual weather front that passed through NJ... ahead of some heavy downpours of rain, the temps soared into the mid 70s. Today. we're back down to the normal-for-February 30s.
Roads hate that more than people.
So it was with no surprise that I heard on the traffic report on my way to work that the pothole crews were out and about on I-80, in the 7 mile area just before my exit to the office. This same stretch of highway has pothole crews on it so often, they should just leave them there all year. So as I approached the announced area, I heard the familiar sound of loose asphalt bits kicking up from tires.
The older the road, the more it's affected by the freeze-thaw cycle. Most brand new or fully-reconstructed highways are made of state of the art materials that are far less susceptible to potholes, but if you regularly travel older roads, you may as well book an appointment with the nearest suspension shop now.
The Salt Institute has a good explanation of how potholes form (and why) in this document.
Around here, this will last well into April. Every year.
 Woke up to this scene this morning.
For those of you in the winter climates, be sure to check my CarSpace Guide regarding the proper way to get all that white stuff from your vehicle.
One benefit to living out here in the mountains is that the local crews really know how to plow snow... otherwise no one would get anywhere (especially emergency vehicles). Main road through town was simply wet, despite the 4 inches of fluffy water.
Fall lasted all of about 2 weeks here. The leaves were a little late in changing color, but then they came down in a hurry. Hopefully this won't be a preview of a long, cold, snowy winter... buyt then again, that's why I have the truck.
And for the record, I am standing level... my street is that angled from the local terrain.
The famous closing line of the shift meeting on "Hill Street Blues".
yesterday, it rained most of the day in north NJ. Making my morning trek eastbound on I-80, we came to a crawl around exit 55. It's 4 lanes per side at this point, light steady shower. As we inch along, a state trooper, then not one but two ambulances blast down the shoulder.
Another 5 minutes of inching and the vehicles in the right 2 lanes are now rapidly bailing left. As I reach the scene, several troopers are there, a tractor trailer is pulled over on the shoulder, and in the right-center lane, a car - compressed to about two-thirds of its original size - is being loaded onto a flatbed wrecker.
Ouch.
Reasonable speculation on my part, said car collided with said tractor trailer. No way to tell who might have been at fault, but certainly brings up a point. When the weather is poor, play "keep away" when driving. Slow down and give yourself and other vehicles plenty of extra room... especially on roads and highways that have a high concentration of The Big Rigs. I've seen plenty of small cars dart between lanes in and around semis, and I just brace myself for the possible impact.of those vehicles.
No matter how instantaneous a driver's reaction time could be, a 65-foot 80,000-pound tractor trailer is not coming to a stop anywhere near as quick as a Porsche 911 Turbo. In stats compiled by USDOT and state-sponsored studies, a tractor trailer will not come to a stop from 55 mph for 430 feet... a car makes the same stop in just 193.
Miscalculations often result in cars reduced to two-thirds their original size.
Not a sudden thunderstorm that blows through in 20 minutes... but a good all-day rain.
It's been a law in New Jersey for over 10 years to turn all your lights on whenever sky conditions require windshield wipers. And yet far too many people don't bother. With tire spray, rain, and fog, it's REALLY easy to come up on some small car (especially silver/gray/white) with almost no warning it was there because the driver is running "dark".
Check my CarSpace guide titled Driving in Bad Weather - See and Be Seen to avoid getting rear-ended when you least expect it.
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