Time is money for truckers weathering Nebraska winds
Truckers say it's important to stop in extreme windy conditions, but have a sense of urgency to get back on the road to make time.
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Truck drivers driving through Nebraska know to stop in extreme winds.
“With the wind the way it is, the wind could literally pick up my truck and just slam it to the ground,” Texas trucker Justin Edmondson said.
Edmondson is on his way back to Amarillo, Texas with 14,000 pounds of grocery food in his truck. He stopped at Shoemaker’s Truck Stop on Wednesday afternoon to get out of the heavy wind and rain that hit Lincoln.
For truckers, staying safe and making time is a tricky balance to strike.
“If you have to stop for this storm, it’s an hour, two hours,” Edmondson said. “If you stop, it may ruin your your whole trip and you may be late to your stop.”
Adam Young, a trucker from Spokane, Washington, also made a pit stop to get out of the extreme wind, but immediately got back on the road once conditions cleared.
“I pulled over, and I’m gonna hang out in the store for a couple hours,” Young told Channel 8 on Wednesday afternoon. “I’ll grab something to eat, but every minute that I’m here, I only have two hours leeway in my day, where it affects my drive day. So if I am here for two hours, then when I leave, I’ll only have 11 hours left to drive.”
Young says he’s had to deal with heavy winds almost every week. He says his strategy is to drive slow and know when to pull over.
“Just keep rolling it 30-35 miles an hour and if you get 100 miles down the road, a lot of times you can get through a storm,” Young said. “Once it gets down to where I can’t drive it safely at 35 [MPH] I’ll get off the interstate.”
In winds like the ones that hit Lincoln on Wednesday, for truckers, it’s safety first.
“Think of a mobile home or trailer house, tornadoes come through and just throw those around like they’re rag dolls,” Young said. “I’m the same thing except for I have no anchors to the ground at all. All I have is my wheels.”
