Commercial truck crashes can be the trucker’s or passenger car operator’s fault. You obviously can’t control what a trucker does, so there is no practical way to protect yourself from a crash caused by a trucker’s distraction or exhaustion after working too many long shifts.
However, you can make decisions that will limit the possibility of your decisions causing a serious crash. What are the two mistakes that drivers make that increase their risk of crashes with semi-trucks?
They drive in the blind spots of the bigger vehicle
Big trucks are so tall and long that they naturally have massive blind spots. Many truck drivers or transportation companies try to reduce the risk caused by blind spots by installing compound mirrors.
However, even with those mirrors, a driver might fail to spot your car if you are directly to the side of the trailer or traveling right behind it. As a general rule, if you can’t see the driver’s face in their mirrors, they probably cannot see you either.
They merge in front of the commercial truck slowly
You don’t always have a choice about which vehicles are close to you in traffic, but you can make decisions about how you respond to heavy traffic.
If you have to merge in front of a commercial vehicle, you should only do so when you can leave multiple vehicle spaces between your vehicle and the big truck. More importantly, you should make sure that you are going the same speed or faster than the commercial vehicle so that you don’t have to worry about them rear-ending you.
Eliminating bad driving practices that contribute to truck crashes will protect you from claims that you caused a wreck.
