Just found this letter I had written several years ago when I had big dreams of starting my own program and sharing it with young drivers... There are over 3,000,000 semis on Americas highways. Trucks bring your clothes, hospital supplies, food, fuel for your car and online deliveries. 70% of these goods are delivered by Semi. A good rule of thumb is: If you cannot see the driver in his mirror: He cannot see you. Never pull out in front of or cut off a semi: If you pull out in front of a semi and dont accelerate sufficiently, you could get rear ended because of the response lag in the braking system of the trucks. For example: When a truck driver applies the brakes, the air pressure has to go from the cab, all the way to the back of the trailer. It takes a few seconds to reach full capacity to get the truck stopped. A loaded semi weighs 80,000 lbs. and the trailer is 53 ft. long. A semi doing 55 mph, fully loaded will take approximately 600 feet or more to get stopped. That is two football field lengths. If a semi has to make a sudden stop it can cause the semi to jackknife. (Does anyone know what jackknife means?) Do not pass on the right: Blind spots can extend out as much as 3 lanes of traffic. When a semi is turning right at an intersection do not pull up on the right side of him or her. That is called right turn squeeze. Semis have to make wide right turns and the back wheels have a shorter path to follow. Therefore when a car passes the semi on the right side, the car will get crunched or pinched when turning the corner. When passing a semi do not linger alongside the truck. Speed up and get past him so you wont be in his blind spot. When approaching a construction zone with barriers on both sides, a 14 wide load has to grab the middle and take up both lanes, its not to be a jerk but because said truck wont fit. Please dont pick this time to try to pass me! Be patient. It takes longer for a semi to get up to speed. Cutting off a semi on the freeway by changing more than one lane to get to your exit can be extremely dangerous. Do not tailgate: You cannot see what is up ahead of the semi. If you tailgate and the semi has to stop suddenly you will run underneath the trailer and be seriously hurt. Debris can fall from the truck or be kicked up by its tires. This goes back to our rule of thumb: If you cannot see the driver in his mirror: He cannot see you. I knew a guy a few years ago who thought he was invincible. He wasnt scared of anything. He knew all there was to know about driving. He was traveling in Oregon between Burns and Bend. There is absolutely nothing out there. Its a boring drive lets face it. His girlfriend was asleep with her head on his lap. No seatbelts! She couldnt have weighed 100 pounds soaking wet. He fell asleep at the wheel. Hit a semi head on. It took awhile for the paramedics and police to get there. She died on impact! It took the paramedics 2 hours to cut her body out of the dashboard. He made it to the hospital alive but died a short time later. How do you think that accident affected the driver of the semi? Watching the paramedics cut a young woman from the dashboard.... Think about that the next time you are driving near a semi...... Common courtesy is a very rare thing these days...to the new and upcoming truck driving students, you do not own the road...You need to share the road...not with just passenger cars but also with other semi trucks....just because the driver in front of you is driving very slow doesnt give you the right to tailgate them, pass them and then cut back in front of them... You have no idea what kind of load that driver is carrying and he or she may have to drive at a slower pace..( oversize loads) When you are passing a semi dont linger next to him in his blind spot. If you get frustrated with a passenger car just slow down & let him pass. your life is not worth the risk....remember that in that car is someones family member... We need to keep each other in check....Back in the day all truckers looked out for each other...Lets start doing that and have some compassion for each other... You guys/gals are the pilots of 80,000 pound missals that can kill you and the other people in the other cars & trucks.... You are at the controls...
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 02:54:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015