It does not matter what time of day you are driving; there are typically always large semis on the road. While these vehicles are essential to the American economy, they can also cause a minor crash to turn into a devastating collision.
Driving a smaller vehicle can make it difficult to understand the challenges of operating such a large rig fully. It is essential to learn how to navigate around these large vehicles on the road.
Here are a few tips for sharing the road with semis.
Plenty of room to stop, please
When you buy a vehicle, one of the features will often be how fast it can stop. It takes a semi twice as long to stop as an average car in most cases.
As you are navigating through traffic, it is important to ensure you have plenty of room when getting in front of a semi. You should be sure you have space for your vehicle and enough space for a semi to stop if something happens right after you get in front of them.
Staying out of blind spots
Semis have large blind spots. That means that as you are passing a semi, there is a significant amount of time where the driver cannot see you.
While you cannot avoid a truck driver’s blind spot altogether, you can try to pass through their blind spot efficiently. A driver’s blind spot is a dangerous place to be, though there are times when it is unavoidable. If you know you are in a semi’s blind spot, try to watch for signs the driver is trying to move over but cannot see you.
If you notice that a driver does not see you in their blind spot and they are trying to move into your space, try to move or get their attention. This is not a time to hold your ground since a collision with a semi could be deadly.
When you stay aware of semis and give them the space that they need, you can help everyone on the road get to their destination safely.