When we first started driving we were constantly told by everyone to keep a safe distance between semi-trucks (18 wheelers), but why? Why? Because they will literally hit you.
It is not because they want to, but because of an array of problems such as: having a much larger blind spot, their car taking longer to stop, and the biggest problem- other drivers making incorrect decisions on the road.
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration 2013, more than 4,000 fatal accidents happen between large trucks or busses. While some car drivers are saying that truck drivers are the bullies of the road, but actually 72% of accidents between trucks and passenger vehicles are caused by car drivers.
Variables such as improper following, failure to make a safe lane change, and driving too fast are often causes of fatal crashes between semi-trucks and passenger vehicles.
With that said, here is a video warning us about the dangers of an improper lane change.
So first, we have the truck driver keeping a modest amount of space between him and the blue truck in front of him. Okay, the black Altima switches into the semi-trucks lane. No worries, he kept a good distance. But what happens next…
What? Now this Volks Wagon wants to switch into his lane? No… you can’t. That space in front of him is so he can stop, not for you to merge into. But what does the VW do? Yeah, the driver kept merging, not knowing the truck driver needed that distance.
You can hear the truck driver in the video upset at what the Volks Wagon did.
This resulted in a collision where the truck driver couldn’t do anything. By the time he saw what the Volks Wagon wanted to do, he was already trapped.
What we also have to keep in mind is that just because you signal for a lane change, it does not give the right to change lanes. We change lanes when the time is right and safe to do so.
The only person who could have prevented this was the Volks Wagon. In no circumstances should anyone make such a dangerous lane change. If the Volks Wagon followed proper rules of driving near a semi-truck, the whole accident could have been avoided.
Luckily, no one was injured! The silver lining of this accident is that we could learn from this drivers mistake. We should never try to change lanes in such a dangerous situation. Never assume that the space in front of semi-truck is for us to change lanes into, that space is the “no zone.”
With what we just saw, we should remember some basic facts about truck drivers.
1. Their blind spots are a lot larger than ours.
2. They cannot make abrupt stops, their stops take a lot more distance and time.
3. Pass trucks quickly, if you cannot then wait patiently until the time is right.
4. Avoid cutting off trucks at all costs.
5. Be a responsible driver!
We hope you found this snippet educational since the purpose of this article is to keep our family and friends safe. If you want to watch the video of the collision you can find it below.
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