“Still Get Nightmares”: 61 Truckers Open Up About Places They Genuinely Fear

Wyoming in the winter is absolute nightmare fuel. The wind alone will literally blow your rig right off the highway, and you're just praying the roads don't close. I avoid it at all costs once November hits.

I used to run dispatch all along the SE US, the 2 that stick out to me most are alligator alley in FL and the stretch of i55 from Memphis to Jackson, MS.

Lots of wildlife on those roads at night.

Driving through the Transkei in South Africa in the late 90s. Its so isolated and beautiful but has burned out and stripped down cars lining the roads everywhere.

I had a 4x4 with a load of guys follow and then chase me for about 30 mins, thankfully they got bored. Sometimes they don't and then your vehicle joins the others and you become fodder for the wildlife.

WV-250. I was a young rookie and thought “using the map” was a smart idea. OMG. It was a truck route like the dragons tail.

okayseriouslywhy:

My friend took that through WV when a snowstorm was blowing in, said she was drifting her old SUV on every other curve. Lucky she's a great driver.

For legal reasons, California.

overlordbabyj:

CA has some commercial driving & emissions laws that the rest of the country doesn't. For example, any refrigerated trailer manufactured before a certain year is illegal there.

Cabbage Mountain….

Sometimesunaware:

Huge sigh at the bottom of that one, even in the summer.

Interstate 70 across Kansas around midnight to 4am.

For some reason and it's only happened twice, somewhere out there is a black hole.

GPS reads it's only 200 miles from one town to another, and you've got say, 6 hours on your clock. That 200 miles should pass in a little under 4 hours, but suddenly you're coming up on the town with 10min left to drive before you've gotta take a break. It's weird.

Also, parking anywhere near Philadelphia, Baltimore, or anywhere in Pennsylvania really.

Most drivers say it's not one specific state, it's stretches like Wyoming on 1 - 80 winter, Texas during sudden storm chains, and mountain passes like Donner Pass in California, where the weather flips fast, and visibility disappears without warning.

Genuinely frightening? For people behaving badly, Atlanta I-285. Good lord. For Ma Nature, the region that comprises southern Minnesota, Northern Iowa, the Dakotas, eastern Montana, some of Nebraska and all of Wyoming…in the winter. When it snows, it generally blows, too. The combination of huge land area that is difficult to plow in a timely fashion and invites and encourages wind, and bad grip because, you know, snow and ice, that can be some [jerk] puckering driving. Even in the summer Wyoming gets a prize for dangerous wind.

Sudden visibility dropouts to near zero, a lot of inertia, and road surfaces that make braking a very ticklish proposition mean Papa Bear gets some white knuckles.

Afghanistan.

Surprised I-90 from Spokane thru mid-Montana doesn’t have any mentions here. I drive this route several times a year to visit family and nearly every trip I take, there’s a truck rolled over, or on fire, or a huge backup of trucks stopped to wait out the weather/chain up in winter. I grew up in CO and am no stranger to mountain driving, but Lookout Pass in particular is so shaded and curvy (and for a LONG time) that it seems to invite lots of truck accidents.

Then add in Homestake Pass and the deceptive Bozeman Pass (where the wind really starts to kick in) and it makes total sense why it’s expensive as hell to live in Montana: it [is a pain] to get things there.

I used to drive to see family in Morgantown, WV from MD on the I-70 and I-68, It has some of the craziest grades I’ve ever seen. They have those separate speed limits and lanes for trucks and I always see and smell brakes getting burned. I think at one point its 6% downhill for over 13 miles straight directly into a bend. I overheated my car going up and down the passes one time.

Not terrifying, but compared to the rest of the country: stressful. And don't get me wrong, if I wasn't in a full length semi, I'd love to visit, but East PA, Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, NYC entire area, Long Island, Massachusetts. Everything that makes life harder for a truck, those places embody it. Narrow, curvy roads, low bridges everywhere, smaller dock yards, no parking, lumper fees at every single place. I'm a company driver, so I can't refuse loads, but if I get another load going to Long Island to drop off 3 pallets at a grocery store with no truck entrance, I'm quitting.

I-90 around Erie and Ontario in winter. Snow. Whiteout. Wind. Also I81 north of Syracuse gets 300 inches of snow a year.

Greater Toronto area.

West Texas at midnight.

Chinstrap6:

It’s not that it’s threatening or anything, it’s just empty. I’m a big fan of night driving, but if you’re driving to a specific spot in west Texas, it’s a ton of off interstate driving where there are zero services, cell reception, or people. If you break down, you can’t call for help and even if you could they wouldn’t be able to get to you.

When I was working out there, I was 100 miles from the nearest gas station. I drove into that “town” many times, and it wasn’t unusual to not see a single car until you got into town.

West Memphis.

Fly_throwaway37:

It's just always under construction. Being from Memphis we have a joke that the state flag of Arkansas is an orange and white road barrel.

Not a trucker, but, I dated a driver for a bit and would go with him on his routes sometime. Anytime it works snow he would say, "get ready to see some wrecks". His route was I-15 between Vegas and Wyoming. It would turn white out over Beaver in a matter of minutes, clear blue sky, to the lowest visibility. I saw some absolutely insane wrecks.

My husband was an owner operator for almost 40 years, we live in northern Ohio and he would refuse loads that would send him East. He hated Erie PA and Buffalo NY, they get snow in feet. He also delivered to New York City once. Just once because he was told if you're stopped in traffic and someone runs up with bolt cutters, opens your trailer and starts stealing just let them.

Glennallen to Valdez in Alaska in winter.