There are three essentials about road safety that every trucker would want the average car driver to know.
Knowing how to share the road should be a universal concern for every driver. Truckers especially have to be cautious of the other cars around them. But the term “it’s a two-way street” also applies here, figuratively and literally, in the sense that other car drivers need to know how to be careful around large commercial trucks. There are three essentials about road safety that every trucker would want the average car driver to know.
Learn the “No-Zones”
This is something that may have come up just once in driving class, but it is a vital piece of information for safe driving around trucks. Because semi-trucks are both very tall and long, there are large blind spots around them that should be avoided. These “no-zones” are about twenty feet in front of a truck, thirty feet behind, and diagonally on either side of the truck’s front cab. There can be a slower reaction time between the driver and the movement of the truck, which makes it difficult for them to swerve out of the way even if you honk your horn, and that is a dangerous situation for everyone. When in doubt, just avoid driving right next to a truck.
Following Distance
Probably the most important part of remembering the “no-zones” is to respect the following distance. A safe following distance behind a semi-truck can be anywhere from thirty to fifty feet, or about three or four car lengths. The following distance is this long for two reasons. First, the closer you are behind a semi-truck, the less you are able to see in front of it. That means that you won’t know what potential hazards are ahead, and you won’t be prepared if they need to brake suddenly. Second, a short following distance makes it harder for you to tell when a truck stops, which increases your risk of rear-ending them.
Don’t Pass While Turning
Most, if not all, trucks will have a warning sticker on the back to indicate why you shouldn’t pass them while they’re turning. Trucks have a very different turn radius from most small vehicles, which means that they have to turn wider and slower. The worst thing to do is to estimate that you have time to pass a truck when it signals to turn. The chances are that you could be cut off and accidentally ram right into the cab, which would be a devastating crash.
Baltimore Freight-Liner Western For All Your Trucking Needs
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