When truck drivers list the worst behind-the-wheel habits of motorists driving passenger vehicles, they are likely to curse a blue streak while rattling off astonishingly long lists of egregious driver behaviors.
Some responses are expected and obvious, like drinking and driving and texting while driving. The dangers of both behaviors have been studied and addressed repeatedly by industry insiders.
There are also many more deadly habits and driving practices of passenger vehicle operators that put everyone on the road at risk of lethal accidents. Below are some that truckers loathe most because of the dangers they present.
Passing and Driving in a Semi’s Blind Spots
If only 4-wheel drivers realized that, unlike within their own smaller vehicles with a blind spot on each side, truck drivers have multiple blind spots where they can’t see an attempted merge or anticipate a car’s movement.
Leave Room for Wide Right Turns
It can be funny to see the panicked look flash across a driver’s face when a semi swings wide to make a right turn. Fortunately, these incidents mostly result in just embarrassment if a long line of cars must back up to allow the errant driver to get out of the big rig’s way.
Learn and Follow the Rules of Roundabouts
Once used mainly across the pond to alleviate traffic clogs in the U.K., roundabouts are appearing with increasing frequency all over the United States. But many motorists seem to forget every driving rule they ever learned when going around a traffic circle. Since traffic circles are often found near truck stops, the drivers’ cluelessness disproportionately affects truckers.
Big Rigs Can’t Stop on a Dime
Why can’t passenger car drivers understand that it can take twice the distance of smaller vehicles for 18-wheelers to come to a complete stop while traveling at legal highway speeds? Truckers dread seeing cars ahead irresponsibly jockeying for position and making multiple lane switches.
Brake-Checking Semi-Truck Drivers
This is perhaps the worst behavior of all for 4-wheel drivers because it hits the trifecta — it’s intentional, purposeless and deadly. If motorists think a trucker cut them off in traffic, there are far better ways to handle it than to get ahead of the semitruck and repeatedly tap the brakes.
Semi-Trucks’ Size and Weight Prevail in Wrecks
Truckers learn many different tactics to avoid accidents with passenger vehicles. But some of those four-wheel drivers’ actions make collisions inevitable. The consequences can be catastrophic for those unlucky occupants.
Truckers universally dread being involved in highway carnage. They hope other drivers will become more aware of the risks their behaviors and actions pose to all with whom they share the road.
Sources: fmcsa.dot.gov, smart-trucking.com
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