Winds Causing Travel Problems For Truckers

By ABC-7 Anchor/Reporter Ashlie Hardway

EL PASO, Texas – Those strong winds and dusty conditions aren’t just annoying, they can cost truck drivers or their companies money.

“Owner and operator it doesn’t. I get paid by delivering a load. Now, if he’s a company man, he probably gets paid by the hour but I don’t,” said driver Jimmy Beshers. That means when truckers have to slow down because of high winds, the company has to pay out more money.

He stopped through El PasoThursday on his way to Louisiana.

New Mexico Department of Transportation officials told ABC-7 as of 6:30 Thursday night, they didn’t have to shut down any roads because of weather-related issues. However, drivers say they have to slow down their speeds when the wind speeds kick-up.

“I’ve got a pretty heavy load, so I mean, If I was a light trailer or something, or empty or something, then yeah. It starts gusting 40, 50 miles an hour, you really wanna pull over or get off the road,” said Doug Conrad, who’s driving west to Arizona.

ABC-7’s StormTRACK weather team predicts those strong gusts should calm down by the holiday weekend.