Articles & Information

BIG RIGS AND SHARING THE ROAD

It takes special driving skills and knowledge to drive safely around big rigs. You cannot drive around the big rigs the way you drive around other vehicles and the most important tip is to give a wide berth to the big rig. Statistics show that collisions between large trucks and lighter vehicles frequently result in death to the driver or occupants of the "other vehicle." In 80% of fatal accidents involving big trucks and lighter vehicles, it is not an occupant of the big truck who dies.

Those big rigs are different because they have a much longer stopping distance than other vehicles, and longer still on wet roads. The ability of the rig driver to control their rig during emergency braking is very limited. Also, truck drivers cannot see you nearly as well as you can see the truck, and if there is a crash, you lose.

Drivers of smaller vehicles need to practice the following safety tips:

• As a general rule, keep as much space as possible between your vehicle and large trucks
• Do not cut in front of a truck just because you see open space there. That space is the truck's cushion of safety because of its longer stopping distance. If you have to stop suddenly, it will be very difficult for the truck to avoid hitting you. Also, if the truck has a long hood the driver may not be able to see you at all.
• Do not linger alongside a truck; you may be in the trucker's blind spot. The size and configuration of many trucks, especially those with trailers, create large blind spots for truck driver. If you cannot see a truck drivers face, in one of his mirrors, he/she cannot see you and probably does not know that you are there.
• If you are following a truck and cannot see the truck's side mirrors, you are driving too close. The driver cannot see you, so back off.
• Always give trucks plenty of room when they are turning. The relationship between the cab, mirrors, and trailer change constantly during a turn, creating varying blind spots. Also, trucks need extra space to turn because of their size.

A collision with a large truck can have tragic consequences for the occupants of the smaller vehicle. Always adjust your driving around the big rigs.

Source: Network of Employers for Traffic Safety

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Why are Tractor Trailer Accidents on the Rise?

Largest Trucking Companies

Pennsylvania Intrastate Trucking Regulations

     - Full Text: INTRASTATE MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY REQUIREMENTS

Federal Interstate Trucking Laws

    - Full Text: INTERSTATE MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY REQUIREMENTS

These reports compare summarized crash results between all states over multiple years. These reports may be used to analyze the number of crashes reported over a period of time and to compare crash results among states. Information provided by Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

Truck Safety Provisions Passed in Senate Highway Funding Bill - February 12, 2004

Axles to Grind: Driving Questions About the Limits to Place on Trucks Traveling Our Roads

"The American Trucking Association wants bigger trucks allowed on our highways. Longer combination vehicles, or LCVs, are three extraordinary trailer configurations that 21 states currently allow in one form or another... Trucking industry strategy has been to increase limits state by state; when size and weight limits are increased in one state, adjacent states feel pressured to conform to stay economically competitive... LCVs can impose great damage on the nation's highways and, more importantly, they raise concerns for the safety of the people buckled into cars in the lanes next to them."

Public Citizen's testimony on Truck Safety before the Senate Commerce Committee. (6/10/03)

Despite repeated promises by FMCSA to significantly reduce truck-related deaths and injuries on our highways and chart an improved course to enhance motor carrier safety, and despite increases in funding and resources for the new government agency, the traveling public remains the victim of an underachieving, and at times, indifferent agency. The annual death toll from truck-related crashes is the equivalent of 26 major airplane crashes every year. FMCSA adopted a goal in 1999 to reduce truck deaths and injuries by 50 percent over 10 years. That goal will not be achieved.

Trailer Underride Revisited (Article off-site)

"Prior to my retirement from active law enforcement (November 1988), I reconstructed an inordinate number of side "trailer underride" accidents. This prompted my first article on the subject, "Trailer Underride: The Almost Always Fatal Collision," (Law & Order, May, 1988). For those of you who missed it, the side trailer underride phenomenon to which I refer is the type of night-time accident where a tractor-semitrailer stops on a roadway and the driver begins a backing maneuver into a driveway or loading dock area. It can also happen when the driver pulls the rig out onto the highway from a loading zone or driveway, but this occurs less often."