When you’re planning a road trip with friends or family, your focus is on having a good time and ensuring you stay on the right route never about avoiding a truck accident.
Something you might not be thinking of is a car accident, no less a crash with a large truck. Unfortunately, road trips are a perfect situation for a truck accident.
On a road trip, you’re likely to travel on freeways and interstates, which over-the-road truckers are also using. This means that you’re going to encounter an abundance of big trucks and more opportunities for disaster.
Damages from truck accidents are horrifying and you want to avoid dealing with them at all costs. Because of this, you should know what you can do to help prevent an accident with a truck driver.
To help keep you safe on your next road trip, we’ll go over a few tips to take note of below.
Stay Predictable
One of the most important things you can do is stay predictable.
This is relevant for avoiding any car crash because predictability is a crucial element of driving. Laws exist for a reason and that’s to keep all drivers safe.
When everyone follows the law, it creates an environment where you can reasonably assume what another driver will do. In this environment, accidents are reduced because drivers will behave rationally and make safe driving choices.
In the reverse scenario, unpredictability leads to chaos. If you don’t know what the driver next to you is going to do, then you won’t feel comfortable changing lanes or driving right next to them.
This is especially relevant for truck drivers because they have less ability to react to situations on the road. Large trucks mean literal tons of weight, which takes more time and forced to slow down.
Because of this, they can’t slam on their brakes and stop as easily as a regular car can. This means that acting unpredictably and causing them to react is a good way of causing an accident.
The inverse of this is also true, meaning that you should always drive in a way that a trucker will expect.
Give Extra Room
It’s also a good idea to give a truck extra room.
You’ve likely noticed how large trucks can get. Not only are they dozens of feet long, but they are also particularly wide.
Large trucks are so wide that they barely fit inside a lane. This leaves minimal room for error, which requires a truck driver to be precise at all times.
Perfect precision is almost impossible, so it’s highly likely that a trucker makes a slight mistake or unavoidably slightly crosses into another lane.
You don’t want to be directly next to a large truck because it might sideswipe you. Imagine driving on the freeway during an extremely windy day and swaying in between your lane next to a semi-truck.
There’s no good reason to be right next to a large truck because they require more room to operate and extra space gives you a cushion of safety.
Avoid Blindspots
You should also be careful to avoid trucker blindspots.
Blindspots are important to avoid for any vehicle, but truckers have a much harder time seeing the cars in the lanes next to them. They can’t easily turn their head and see the cars there, so they need to largely rely on their mirrors.
As you may know, mirrors are anything but perfect and leave a large margin for error. A good way of knowing that a truck driver can see you is if you can see them in their cabin.
Better yet, you want to make sure that you can and do make eye contact with them to ensure that they know you’re next to them. This isn’t always feasible, so it’s better to just avoid being in their blindspot altogether.
Avoiding blindspots is fairly simple as you can slow down to avoid being stuck next to a truck or speeding up to pass it. Take advantage of this to steer clear of a potential hazard.
Watch Their Behavior
A final helpful tip is to watch a trucker’s behavior.
This includes both watching the driver and their truck.
When you watch a truck, you can see how it’s moving. This can make you aware of any lane-crossing, swaying, or otherwise unsafe behavior. A great way of doing this is by keeping a close eye on their wheels.
You should also watch the driver inside their cabin. If you can get a good look at their face, see if they show any signs of fatigue, distraction, or impairment. Be sure to keep an eye on the road, though!
If a driver is acting oddly while they’re driving, it might suggest that they’ll do something dangerous. This gives you a good reason to drive away and avoid being near them.
Truck accidents are caused by both regular vehicles and truck drivers, meaning that you can’t rule out a trucker as a cause for an accident. This is why you need to carefully watch them and drive away if you notice anything suspicious.
Closing Thoughts
You don’t want to get into an accident during a road trip, especially with a large semi-truck. Accidents with trucks are just a small chunk of all car accidents that happen, but those that do are devastating and a great reason to exercise extra caution when near them.
With all of this in mind, you’ll want to know how to avoid getting into a truck accident during a road trip. You can do this by staying predictable, giving trucks extra space, avoiding blindspots, and watching the driver’s behavior.
Road trips are a fun experience and you don’t want them to get derailed by a truck accident. It’s easy to get distracted and sleepy while on a long trip, but you need to stay alert and safe at all times!
Safety is an excellent way of improving your experience and this means being careful around big trucks.
Pinstripe Magazine Staff
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