Every year, when the cold season arrives, media reports increasingly highlight cars being struck by falling ice sheets. These dangerous ice chunks can cause severe accidents and represent a serious safety risk on the roads. Yet, time and again, one reads under such articles the typical “complaints” from truck drivers who lament the supposed impossibility of removing snow and ice from their vehicles.
This complaining is entirely unnecessary. There are long-established, effective methods to safely remove snow and ice from truck trailers. The so-called de-icing ladder is just one of several practical tools specifically developed for this purpose. With it, drivers can quickly, safely, and with minimal effort remove dangerous layers of ice and snow—before they become a hazard to other road users.
What many do not know: For years, there has been extensive education available on which tools and methods are at their disposal, how to use them correctly, and where they can be obtained cheaply or even subsidized. The de-icing ladder is merely one example of the many solutions available on the market that drivers can utilize.
Nevertheless, the same complaints keep surfacing. Why? Often it stems from a lack of information or an unwillingness to engage with the topic. After all, the safety of all road users is paramount—and this includes truck drivers taking responsibility and keeping their vehicles free of ice.
Instead of complaining, truck drivers should make use of available options—such as the De-icing Ladder —to make their vehicles safe and winter-ready. In doing so, they protect not only themselves but also others on the road.
As mentioned, we have been educating about these tools for years. And yet, there are drivers who either find the whole thing amusing, accuse us of knowing nothing, suggest that someone should come behind the desk and drive a truck themselves, or even use the phrase: “I’ll show you…” Such remarks only arise when arguments are lacking from the outset.
And to these people as well: I have been driving trucks for over 30 years. For more than 10 years, I have been working on this topic. As can be read in the Ice Sheet Category , I have tested these systems myself or used them personally. And I am not alone. Many companies have at least had the RSAB installed under their trailers.
However, simply ordering these parts along with a new trailer is not enough. Drivers must also be trained. The tool is useless if the technician cannot operate it.
Over the years, I have seen many drivers who use the RSAB as an active system or who don’t even know what the box with the red button on the trailer is for. They see the red hose under the roof but do not know what to do with it.
I am not tired of explaining to these drivers how the RSAB works, why it exists, and how to use it best.
The RSAB is a preventive system. That means you activate it when parking daily at your usual time. Then you inflate it. Or when the trailer/trailer unit is parked for an extended period. Even then, you inflate it. If the air circuit is sealed, the hose maintains pressure even without a tractor attached in front.
But all of this will have to be explained again next year, and I will once again have to hear that I know nothing about the subject, despite my over 30 years of professional experience. But knowledge does not come from simply stringing kilometers together!
