Episode 76: Surviving the Ice: Winter Trucking Safety with Ashley Napier

David W. Craig: Stopping distance on wet or slippery pavement is a lot worse than it is on dry pavement. If they’re hauling a empty trailer, it’s going to take them a longer distance to stop on snow and ice. There’s these specific rules that apply to truckers and they need to, and follow those rules or we’re all in danger. And unfortunately, a lot of them don’t. I’m attorney Dave Craig, managing partner and one of the founders of the law firm of Craig, Kelley & Faultless. I’ve represented people who have been seriously injured or who have had a family member killed in a semi or other big truck wreck for over 30 years. Following the wreck, their lives are chaos. Often they don’t even know enough about the process to ask the right questions. It is my goal to empower you by providing you with the information you need to protect yourself and your family. And in each and every episode, I will interview top experts and professionals that are involved in truck wreck cases. In the Ask David episodes of After the Crash, we switch things up. Instead of me asking questions, I answer the questions. Nothing’s off limits and they ask me about truck safety, about truck accidents, about semi-truck litigation, about commercial motor vehicle wrecks. You name it, I talk about it. This is After the Crash.

Ashley Napier: Hello, everybody. Welcome to After the Crash Podcast, the Ask David series where I am back now, and I get to ask David some questions. David, we are now in January of 2026. We have had our first round of winter storms here in Indianapolis and throughout the state of Indiana. What are your thoughts about those? What effects do you think those have had in terms of the number of accidents involving semi-trucks and other commercial motor vehicles?

David W. Craig: Thank you, I’m glad to have Ashley as hopefully our permanent host of Ask David series. And she promises not to ask me very tough questions. But yeah, this is January 2026. And the first snow we got in was November of 2025 and we had some snow in December of 2025. And this reminds me, if you go back to the episode where I interviewed Randy Ollis, the meteorologist, I think it was episode 24, Randy said that every year, year after year, because he’d been a weatherman for years in Indiana, and he said that every time there was the first snow, there were wrecks everywhere. It’s like people forgot how to drive in bad weather. He’s like, “It was like clockwork. Every year there would be a snow, and then that very first snow or second snow, first couple snows, ice, people just crashed all over the place.” And this year was no exception. One of the things we do here at Craig, Kelley & Faultless is we actually monitor the truck wrecks, the flatbed trucks, the dump trucks, the commercial passenger buses. We monitor all the commercial motor vehicle wrecks that occur in the state of Indiana. And in November and December, there’s at least 20 wrecks that involve commercial motor vehicles, whether it’s a semi-truck or a box truck, a dump truck, flatbed, a tanker, you name it. There’s at least 20 wrecks in those two-month period, and a lot of it has to do with snow. And so unfortunately, this year wasn’t any exception. People didn’t learn the lessons from the years in the past and we had tons and tons of wrecks, and a lot of them had to do with snow and ice.

Ashley Napier: Absolutely. I feel like there’s always kind of an uptick, like you said, in us getting hired during the winter months. And I don’t think 2025 was any exception. Can you tell us maybe some of the most common causes of those wrecks that we get?

David W. Craig: And I think if you go back, I think first of all, in fairness to the truck drivers, I mean, not all of those wrecks are caused by the truckers, but unfortunately some are. And I think it’s probably winter driving is one of the biggest challenges in the transportation industry because they’ve got to get their products from here to there and people want their stuff yesterday. And so we just had Christmas, and so people are wanting their stuff delivered. And I just saw Amazon is going to start doing groceries, live produce, groceries immediately, over the same day delivery in some cities. And so people are wanting their stuff so fast, so we’ve got trucks on the highway, we’ve got more UPS trucks, we’ve got more Amazon trucks, more FedEx trucks and UPS, they’re all out there. And so the highways are crowded, and then all of a sudden you get snow and ice, and it is really, really challenging. I think that is a big challenge every year. You’re absolutely right. Every year, and we’ve already been hired on winter trucking cases. And we know, as my partner, Scott Faultless and I are both board certified in truck accident law, we know that there’s different regulations and rules that apply to truckers and trucking companies that apply to you and me when we’re driving our SUVs out there in the wintertime. But as far as causes of wrecks, I would say the first and the most often and most common is just speed. When these truckers are trying to get from one place to the next and when they’re faced with adverse weather, whether it’s wet pavement, whether it’s packed snow, whether it’s ice, it creates issues. I’ve taken the depositions of tons of truck drivers in winter crashes, and a lot of them think that they’re not the problem, it’s the cars that are on the roadway that are problems. They believe that they can just travel and do the speed limit. And even though the Federal Motor Carrier regs, the CDL manuals, the state laws tell them differently, a lot of them believe that they still can maintain their equipment, and they’re just wrong. Stopping distance on wet or slippery pavement is a lot worse than it is on dry pavement. If they’re hauling an empty trailer, it’s going to take them a longer distance to stop on snow and ice. And so that’s why there’s these rules that are in place. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, the CDL manual, which helps explain in more detail what the Fed regs require, there’s these specific rules that apply to truckers and they need to and follow those rules, or we’re all in danger. And unfortunately, a lot of them don’t.

Ashley Napier: Yeah. I mean, I think that the bad truck drivers and that type of bad trucking companies, it gets amplified when there is adverse weather out there. And I think-

David W. Craig: Go ahead, sorry.

Ashley Napier: Oh, I mean, I just think that it’s something for all of us to be aware of. And when we’re sharing the road with semis, I know you touched on it, but we also, as people in cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, we have a duty to also change our driving behavior. And a lot of people don’t.

David W. Craig: Yeah, and that’s true. And I think people in cars don’t realize that they can’t drive the same on snow and ice. And maybe you’ve got some younger people who’ve never driven on snow and ice, you have older people who maybe have forgotten or are not as careful. But yeah, I mean, I think that when we have bad weather, it’s all of our responsibilities to be more careful. I mean, in November, the very first snow we had here in Indiana, there was a major semi pile up, car pile up. I think there was more, I can’t remember. It was on I-70 West over in Vigo County close to Terre Haute. And if I remember right, there were 45 cars and semi involved. So here’s our very first snow and that I-70 is just piled up with cars. And so once there’s a wreck, then the people start sliding all over the place and it just causes a ripple effect. And so there were 45 cars and semis, and that made national news. I-70 West over by Terre Haute in Vigo County made national news. And you saw pictures of just, the highway was just stopped. And I think that’s something, when you think about it, and then up on the toll roads, there was a bad wreck up around in the region in November, December. So we see it. And then once there is one wreck, unfortunately, you see multiple wrecks where people start trying to stop and they can’t stop because of the road conditions. Right now, I mean, I guess one of the things I would say to people is that nobody anticipates they’re going to be involved in a wreck or they’re going to be stopped on the highway or the interstate because of a wreck in the wintertime, but you need to assume that you might. And I would strongly recommend, I’ve been doing this for 40 years and I’ve never seen anybody who anticipated being in a wreck or being stuck for hours out on a freezing cold highway. And so some of the things you need to do is you need to pack your car and you need to assume the worst case scenario, assume that you’re going to be in an accident, assume that even if you’re not in an accident, you’re going to be stopped on the highway. What are you going to do? You want to make sure you have a full tank of gas, you want to make sure that your radiator, that you got the radiator fluid, you want to make sure that your windshield wiper fluid is full so that you can clear off your windshields. And you want to make sure that you have gloves and proper winter clothing, coats, blankets in your car. And then one of the things that we give out to all of our clients is these flashers. And visibility is one of the problems in the wintertime when it’s snowing, sleeting. And so we give out these flashers to all of our clients now and there’s three of them in a pack. You can get them online and they flash, and so they help you. And they have a magnet so you can stick it on the metal or you can just set it on top of your car or on the ground. And so when there’s a wreck and you’re stuck or you’re off the side of the road, you want to use these to let everybody know where you’re at. It’s that simple. But how many people out here right now are listening to this podcast, have one of these in their cars? Because most people don’t. And until I became a personal injury attorney and did truck wrecks, I didn’t think about it. But I have seen, I mean, I went out to Montana and we saw at nighttime, how much difference these things made in conspicuity and visibility of semi-tractors, of cars. And so I would encourage everybody to, this winter, load up your truck. Put some protein bars in there, some snacks, put some bottled waters, put blankets, put some winter clothes, put gloves, scrapers. Make sure you’ve got plenty of gas, make sure you got plenty of radiator or windshield wiper fluid and just be prepared, because we can’t control what other people are doing on the highways. And so if we’re even being careful, we still may get hit or we may be involved in a wreck.

Ashley Napier: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that creating that little emergency kit, I know that I didn’t have one, and then I got some of our flashers and I’ve created myself kind of a little emergency kit for the winter months. I keep my flashers in my car all year round, not only for my safety, but if I were to break down on the side of the road, I could have those. And it’s not only, again, for me, it’s for the other drivers so that they can see me. And so I think an emergency kit, it’s kind of cliche to say, but it can be the matter of life or death for you and the fellow people you’re sharing the roadway with.

David W. Craig: I mean, and if you think about it, if there’s 20 semi-wrecks, that’s not all the wrecks. I mean, I just monitor wrecks that involve commercial motor vehicles. And if there’s over 20 of them in November and December of 2025, just think how many there are. And so those were on I-70, we had some on I-65, there were some on 32 and Highway 74, I-865, 465. And so in those highways like that, once you get bogged down, once there’s a wreck, I mean, you’re often stuck there for a long period of time while they’re waiting to divert traffic. And the more severe the wreck is, which unfortunately with semis, often there are. I mean, in November, December, there were two officers that were killed in semi-wrecks. One was injured really bad, one was killed. And so we saw a lot of fatalities, we saw a lot of serious injuries. And when that happens, the highways even stop longer because they have to get rescue people in there. So just please be careful and also make sure you have the safety equipment we talked about.

Ashley Napier: Yeah, absolutely. I know that you’ve handled a large number of commercial motor vehicle cases in the past. Can you talk about some of those cases and are there tips and tricks that you’d like to pass along to the viewers?

David W. Craig: Yeah. I mean, I think first of all, just for tips, you just need to decrease your speed, leave yourself plenty of distance. Stay away from semis. I mean, just stay away from them if you can. There’s so many on the highway, it’s hard, but keep your distance. Don’t cut them off, don’t pull in front of them. They take longer to stop on snow and ice and wet pavement. But yeah, I mean, I see some of the same stuff. Most of the time, the semi-wrecks are because of the speed. We had one on I-70 over by Brazil, Indiana, where I had a client who was killed when she was hit by a semi that was in the passing lane. Imagine this, there’s two lanes of I-70. It was westbound around Cloverdale exit, and all the traffic was in the single lane in the right-hand slow lane, and that was the only lane that was clear. And it had tire tracks down there. It was snowing so hard that the road, everything else was covered. So the passing lane was covered, but the one right-hand lane, people were going extraordinarily slow, just single file, leaving themselves plenty of distance. But there was a semi who was passing everybody in the left lane, and the left lane’s not clear, so it’s packed snow. And so the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations require that driver to use extreme caution. And so Title 49 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations regulate the trucking industry, and it has a rule in there that requires extreme caution. And so I don’t think extreme caution is passing single cars going very carefully, very slowly in the one lane, and they were using extreme caution. Car drivers don’t have to use extreme caution. We’re required to use ordinary care, but semi-drivers are required under 49 CFR 392.14, to use extreme caution. And that’s in rain, snow, sleet, dust, anything that affects visibility or traction. And here this driver is, instead of slowing down or using extreme caution, he’s passing people. In addition, the CDL manual, which helps explain and kind of goes into more detail what the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations require, the CDL manual requires that when you’re driving on packed snow, you should decrease your speed by 50%. When you’re driving on ice, you should slow down as slow as possible, five, 10 miles an hour, 15 miles an hour, and then get off the road as soon as is practical and safe. Well, there was ice on this road and there was certainly packed snow, there was no clear lane. And this truck driver, this semi-driver was going close to the speed limit. Now, think about it. If the speed limit’s 60, you’re supposed to be doing 30 if you’re driving on packed snow, but this guy’s passing people at highway speeds, and unfortunately there’s a collision between my client’s car and the semi, my client dies. That’s clear violation of the federal code, clear violation of Indiana state law, and it’s also a clear violation of the CDL manual and most companies’ policies. So that was one out on I-70. I represented somebody that was a double fatality down on I-74 in Ripley County, and that one was, again, a winter collision. And that one, there’s what’s called a Jake Brake or a speed retarder. And so it governs the speed, and so it applies brake. You take your foot off the gas and it’s like it applies the brakes. And so the CDL manual would tell you that you should never use that on slippery pavement because it can cause your truck to jackknife. And this guy had not been properly trained, he didn’t know that he could shut off the Jake Brake. He didn’t know that he wasn’t supposed to use the Jake Brake in snow or ice. And so he’s coming northbound on I-74 or heading towards Indianapolis down in Ripley County, my client’s going south towards Cincinnati. And around Batesville, the semi jackknifes, car goes under it. And unfortunately, a little kid dies and a young man, a college age young man dies. And so that is a question of not necessarily the speed, but not understanding how to utilize proper equipment on the highways. And then I’ve had other ones with equipment. So the equipment, I mean, winter is hard on semi-tractor trailers, so they need to make sure that they have fluid, anti-freeze. They need to make sure that they’ve got plenty of windshield wipers so their vision is as clear as possible. They need to use their low beam headlights. They need to make sure and do safety equipment, check their brakes, make sure the brakes don’t freeze up, make sure the brake pads don’t freeze up. They need to be more careful when they do their pre-trip inspection. And there’s certain lubes and oil or grease that they use in cold weather that they don’t use in hot weather. We had a case where a driver came across from Mexico, was driving up in Indiana, delivering auto parts, and he used the wrong kind of lubrication on the fifth wheel. And the fifth wheel is where the semi-tractor and the trailer connect. And as a result, his trailer came disconnected at night, blocked the highway, and our client didn’t see it and went underneath it and got severely injured. And it turned out it was because the guy used the wrong type of grease. The grease he was using may have been fine in Texas, may have been fine in Mexico, but it was the wrong type to use in freezing cold weather in the middle of the winter in Indiana. And then I’ve also had cases where the tape that you see on the side of semis, it’s called conspicuity tape, and I’ve had wintertime where that gets covered with snow and ice and the truckers don’t clear it, so they don’t clear it off. And so then at night when something happens to their tractor or their trailer, then all of a sudden they’re not visible. Now, they’re required to put triangles out in 10 minutes, at least in 10 minutes, but hopefully sooner. I’ve actually done that, it doesn’t take very long to put them out. But in the wintertime, people, they don’t want to get out and then you can’t see them because their taillights are covered with snow and ice, their conspicuity tape is covered with snow and ice, so those are some of the common. I’ve handled so many cases in snow and ice involving tractor trailers and semi-trailers. I had another one over in Newcastle on 38 where a truck driver’s just driving and talking on his phone. Now, it was hands-free because you’re allowed to do that as a trucker, but they’re certainly discouraged, you’re discouraged to do it in the CDL manual. But he’s talking for hours to his girlfriend, or I think his girlfriend or his wife, can’t remember now. And he was driving on ice and he slid through an intersection and that didn’t slow him down or stop him, didn’t stop talking on the phone. He slides through one intersection and then two intersections later, he slides and hits my client and causes a serious brain injury. So you had a couple different things. You had one, a distraction, talking on a cell phone, even though it was a hands-free. You had bad visibility, it was bad weather, it was sleeting, you had icy roads. And so instead of getting off the highway, which he’s required to do as soon as practical, or decrease the speed down to less than 15 miles per hour or lower and use extreme caution, instead he’s on his cell phone, driving through and causes a severe brain injury. So winter crashes, I mean, every year we get hired, like I said, we’ve already been hired this year for several, and it’s a common thing. And when I’m on the road, if I hear a Jake Brake in the wintertime, I get away from that truck because that truck is going to potentially lose control and jackknife if it hits snow or ice. If I see a truck or tractor get right up on my rear end, I move over and get away from it. I don’t put myself in between two semis and I don’t ever cut off a semi, and I keep my distance and I slow my speed down and keep a safety cushion around my vehicle.

Ashley Napier: Yeah, absolutely. Those are all fantastic tips and tricks, not only to keep us safe, but also the truck drivers that have delivered our holiday gifts and groceries and all of that stuff. I mean, I think that this time of year, there are so many commercial motor vehicles out on the roads that we just need to be hyper-aware, especially with the adverse weather coming in, and I think it will continue.

David W. Craig: And I think if you or someone you know has been involved in a semi-wreck, you have to understand that it’s not like a car crash. You need to contact a truck accident attorney, and preferably somebody who’s board certified in truck accident law, because it is different. Like the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations I cited, it’s not reasonable care, it’s not ordinary care. It’s different, it’s extreme caution. And the CDL section 2.13 deals with some of the winter stuff, the technical stuff on trucks, the tire tread, the brakes and the brake pads, all the other things they should be checking. You’ve got section 2.13.2, which talks about driving in the wintertime. 2.62 talks about decreasing your speed by a third on wet pavement, 50% if you’re on packed snow and get off the road if it’s icy. And this is something I guess most people, when you’re in a truck wreck, you’re not thinking about your environment. So I’ll ask people, “Well, was it packed snow?” Because the CDL manual makes a difference between packed snow and snowing. So when you’re driving on packed snow, you’re supposed to decrease your speed by 50%, the truck drivers are. And so oftentimes the truck drivers will say it’s not packed snow. The police officers, when they’re investigating, they’re not looking to see if it’s packed snow or not. Now, sometimes there’s photographs the police take and that’s helpful to us. But if you have someone in your vehicle and they’re not injured or not injured as badly, if they can look and see when you’re outside your vehicle, was it packed snow? And if so, take a photograph of it with your cell phone. But it can make a big difference between… Because all of a sudden now that truck, instead of going 60, it should have been doing 30. And so we can download that truck then and see how fast it’s going, download the ECM, electronic control module. And if that truck is going too fast, then that obviously helps your case. But you want to be safe, you don’t want to do that unless you can. But I’ve seen a lot of wrecks on highways where people are sitting in their car and they get hit by other semis. So if you’re physically able to get out and get to safety, then again, that’s why you would carry the blankets, why you carry the winter coats, the gloves, why you carry the flashers, so you can put your flasher out. And then usually if you can get on the other side of a guardrail, that’s the best because I’ve seen people hit, standing along the side of the road after a wreck because they’re standing there and they think they’re okay because maybe there’s another car behind them stopped. But all of a sudden, the semi plows into the back end of them and kills the people even standing along the side of the road.

Ashley Napier: This time of year, it’s just something that all drivers need to be prepared to combat. And the consequences of not driving carefully are lethal, that’s for darn sure.

David W. Craig: Yeah. And again, the truck drivers, I mean, they’re trying to make a living and we all have to have our stuff delivered, but at the same time, you’ve got some of them who just, they’re old school and they just think they can drive no matter what. They think they’re so good they’re not going to wreck, and it’s just because they haven’t had to hit their brakes hard on snow or ice. And you have some of the younger and some folks that aren’t trained properly. You’ve got people now who are getting CDLs that probably shouldn’t have CDLs. And so you’ve got these people on the roadway and it really is scary. It’s scary enough during the drive when the pavement’s dry, but it’s even scarier when you’ve got snow and ice out there.

Ashley Napier: Absolutely, yeah. And I think that for those listening, if you have any other questions that we’ve not addressed today about winter weather or even the CDL manual that you’ve referenced, please feel free to email us. Or if there’s another topic you’d like us to talk about, we have an email, afterthecrashpodcast@ckflaw.com. So we monitor that and we would love to hear from you. The truck drivers, you can let us know your thoughts. And my hope at least is that people listening to this will take away some tips and tricks that you’ve shared and just, we’re keeping everybody safer, is my hope.

David W. Craig: I’d be interested in if you’re a trucker out there. I mean, I’ve taken depositions of many truckers and I’ll usually start off by asking what’s their rule of thumb on what you should do under winter conditions. And very rarely do they cite the Federal Motor Safety regs, very rarely do they cite the CDL. A lot of times they don’t even know what that is. And a lot of times they disagree with it. They don’t think they need to decrease their speed by 50%, and they certainly don’t think they should decrease their speed by a third, or that they should decrease their speed by down to 10, 15 miles an hour on ice. But the reality is on ice with a tractor and a trailer, you’re not going to be able to stop in your vision, how far you can see ahead, which makes it dangerous. That means I can’t stop. So as far as I can see, I’m not going to stop. And so whatever’s ahead of that, I may hit. But it’d be interesting to see if you’re a trucker out there and you disagree and you think you can drive, you don’t have to slow your truck down, or maybe you do agree and maybe you’ve seen other examples of where you get off the road, we’d love to hear from you. So reach out to us on that email address. And Ashley and Suzanne, who helps monitor that, will get back with you and we’ll be happy to talk to you about it.

Ashley Napier: Yeah, I would love to hear from you. And you can add to my question database for, if I’m now the new Ask David host, I would love to bring some of your questions to him. But that’s all I had for winter driving. Do you have anything else, David?

David W. Craig: No, I hope everybody, just be safe out there. I hope that you don’t ever need me. But if you do, if you just want to talk or you want to ask questions, always feel free to reach out to us because our goal is to make a positive difference in the lives of others. And I think that by trying to give you information and helpful information, hopefully we can do that. So thank you, Ashley, for hosting, and we’ll see you again next month.

Ashley Napier: Yep, thanks everybody. Take care and be safe out there.

David W. Craig: This is David Craig and you’ve been listening to After the Crash. If you’d like more information about me or my law firm, please go to our website, ckflaw.com. Or if you’d like to talk to me, you can call 1-800-Ask-David. If you would like a guide on what to do after a truck wreck, then pick up my book, Semitruck Wreck: A Guide for Victims and Their Families, which is available on Amazon, or you can download it for free on our website, ckflaw.com.