Commercial Vehicle Enforcement

CV TruckSharing the Road

Trucks are Not Large Cars - When trucks accelerate, brake, climb a hill, switch lanes, or turn, the tractor-trailers must perform certain maneuvers with which car drivers are generally not familiar. The bigger the truck, the bigger the blind spot, the more room it needs to maneuver, the longer it takes to stop and the more likely that you are going to be the loser in a collision.

Only Pull In Front of a Truck When You See the Whole Truck in Your Mirror - Because of their size and weight, trucks need a much greater distance to stop than cars. If you don't' give the driver enough space, you run the risk of being hit from behind.

Give Trucks Room When Passing - Truck drivers sometimes need to swing wide to manager their turns because the vehicle is so large. When they do, they cannot see cars directly behind them.

Give Trucks Time to Pick Up Speed - A truck may have 2-3 times more power under the hood than a car, but it must pull 30-40 times more weight than a car engine. The truck may have to go through ten gears to reach the speed limit.

Give Trucks Room to Stop - A car traveling at 55 MPH can stop in 133 feet; a loaded tractor-trailer takes 196 feet to stop. That's almost 50% more distance than a car needs.

Avoid Entering the Truck's Blind Spots - Unlike autos, trucks have deep blind spots directly behind them. If you tailgate, not only do you make it impossible for the truck driver to see you, but you also cut off your own view of traffic flow. Trucks also have blind spots on both sides of them. When you travel in these areas, you cannot be seen by the truck driver.

Facts about Commercial Vehicle Crashes

In 9 out of 10 fatal crashes between cars and trucks, the occupants of the car are killed..

The car driver is cited about twice as often as the truck driver for reckless behavior in crashes involving large trucks.

In almost two-thirds of fatal crashes, the impact point is at the front of the truck, suggesting that most fatal crashes are within the forward field of view of the truck driver.