sudden whiteout condition.....never in all my years was there a "sudden" whiteout...a quick one yes but sudden?.....usually preceded by what looks like a wall of snow in front of you or across the fields it rolls.....there is a few seconds to take your foot off the gas pedal....but most people ignore the signs of pending doom...or just don't watch for them...blinders on...
That's the down side of experience. You get to thinking that experience means more than it does. You extend your experience into knowledge and develop errant opinions and beliefs. In "all my years," I have experienced a sudden whiteout once. Actually it was a series of them in the same windy night.
It was instantaneous, total and happened without warning. Wind was blowing and heavy gusts were frequent. The roads were dry. The wind gusts would pick up snow from the flat fields and cause whiteouts. It was as if someone put newspaper over the windshield. You can simulate the experience by closing your eyes. It was that quick and that total.
Your natural instinct is to stop. What else can you do when you are literally blind? Fortunately, these conditions lasted for only a moment. They cleared as quickly as they started. When the first one cleared, we kept going since the roads were dry and the air was clear. After the second one happened a few minutes later, we started looking for a place to stop and park for the night. We found one but not before a third whiteout came and went.
Sudden whiteout conditions without warning? You bet they can happen. That's why it is good to study these kinds of accident reports. It gives you the chance to learn from other people's experiences and mentally prepare in case it happens to you.
In our case, it happened on a remote, two-lane highway in Canada. There was no traffic to worry about. We had the road to ourselves. Had it been in Ohio traffic or an Arizona dust storm, I don't know that a wreck could be avoided. The mental preparation in such a case would not be to react to a whiteout, it would be to react to a multiple vehicle accident.
That's the thing about expediting. For all of us, we are never more than the very next instant away from a catostraphoic event that can alter your life forever or even end it. The same could be said for any career field, but for expediters the exposure is higher because we spend so much time on the road.
Be safe.
