KEN'S KORNER - MARCH 2004
INVISIBLE KILLER
By Author, Educator and Big City Driver Ken Skaggs

Everybody knows that it can be dangerous to drive in snow or ice (well, almost everybody). Also, everybody knows that it can be dangerous to drive in rain, on hills, or in heavy traffic areas (well, at least some do). But what have you heard about wind? You don’t hear much about it, but wind sure is dangerous too. It is just as dangerous as the other conditions mentioned, maybe even more so, because it’s so darn sneaky. People in certain areas know about wind though, they know all about it. But the rest of us, I think, don’t usually give it much thought (until it blows us off the road).

Take Wyoming for example. I love Wyoming. It’s beautiful and has a rich history (and the best zoning laws in the country - none at all, in some counties), but it sure is windy there! I’m from Chicago, the Windy City, so I thought I knew wind. That was before I went to Wyoming one fine windy day. It was just like the Santa Ana Winds in California, only it didn’t have a special weather name like that. It was just a regular kind of windy day to them, but it sure was blowing hard. They tie everything down in Wyoming, because if they don’t it will blow away. These people know how to hunker down. If you take your hand off your hat for one second, you’ll never see it again, unless you can run and dodge like Bruce Lee. I’d be willing to bet you a dollar that you could find a hat in Wyoming, on any given day, if you just look around for one. There’s always a trailer-ban in effect too, and when it snows there, forget about it.

Yeah, me and wind go way back. I remember one day on the Grapevine in California during a Santa Ana wind condition. I was southbound on I-5 on this super windy day, watching the biggest tumbleweeds I ever saw blow across the highway, one after another. These things were the size of big cars. I demolished a few of them. As a van was passing next to me, he ran into one which stayed on his front end for a few seconds, and then slowly fell apart. First half of it fell off, but a piece half the size of a car clung to his windshield for at least a half mile before it finally broke away. Luckily, for both of us, he didn’t panic and just held it straight until the tumbleweed fell apart and cleared off his windshield. But that was a close one.

Then there was my buddy Paul who got blown off the side of a mountain by a gust of wind. His truck rolled over several times and somehow he didn’t get hurt, much. This is an ironic story in itself. You see, Paul never wore a seatbelt - never did, never will. I’m not condoning that, I always wear mine, but Paul won’t and he swears his life was saved by that fact when he got blown off the side of that mountain. As he crashed down the mountain, his truck rolled to his right, tossing him onto the passenger floor. Then, with the next part of the roll, the roof of the cab flattened down onto the seats. Anybody sitting there would have been smashed. Luckily, he was tossed into the only small square area of the cab that didn’t crush (on the floor in front of the passenger seat). He had to be cut out of there by the Fire Department and the Jaws of Life, but he was conscious the whole time and climbed out of it, once they cut a big enough hole to get him out. I tried to tell him that he was lucky that day and that he should wear a seatbelt simply because of the odds. His accident was a rare example and usually a seatbelt helps the situation. But he simply won’t wear one. Anyway (getting back to wind), it was a severe and sudden wind gust that blew his truck off the road that day. He said it was an extremely windy day and he was on a winding road, so when he was going in one direction, the wind wasn’t bad. But then, when he rounded a bend, a powerful gust just blew his trailer right over, which yanked the tractor along with it. Think about it - it would take a pretty strong wind to push over a tractor and trailer.

I tried to search for some statistics on accidents caused by wind, but there were none. I found everything else: statistics for distracted driving, aggressive driving, drunk driving, rain, snow, animals, everything, even stats for accidents caused by cell phone yappers, but no wind stats. But I easily found plenty of news stories about people being blown off the road or things being blown into traffic. I’ve been hit by blown garbage cans a time or two myself. Just last month I creamed a plastic picnic table (one of those little plastic ones that stand about knee-high). I first saw it on the shoulder, sort of scooting along, but staying in its lane. Then, as I got close to it, it scooted to the left, and then to the right, and then directly in front of me, so I flattened it! I had no choice. I had to wonder how that thing got blown out of some kids’ backyard, down the road to the entrance ramp and then onto the highway (the nearest house was a mile away). I could picture it in a left-turn-only lane, waiting for a green light, making a right, then a left, and then paying a toll (maybe it just fell off the back of a pickup truck, but that was no fun to think about). It weaved in front of me like a drunk driver, and without even a turn signal!

I didn’t use to think about wind, but I do now, especially when I notice it gaining strength. Wind sneaks up on you. You can’t see it, so it affects your senses in a weird way. The constant noise of it can sometimes dull your senses to the point where you have to turn your radio up full blast just to hear it. It’s physically exhausting too, driving in strong wind. Fighting that steering wheel that keeps trying to turn really wears you out. Plus, it literally moves your vehicle, especially if you have a big van trailer with a light load. Dealing with high winds makes for a hard days work. Avoid it if you can, but when you must, just hold on tight and pay attention, because you have your work cut out. Be careful out there. The life you save could be mine!