Safety Tips For Automatic Drivers Dividing Roads With Large Trucks

Our highways accommodate millions of passenger vehicles, bus trucks and tractor trailers. These large semi trucks carry products, parts, livestock, and essential equipment for businesses and consumers. Economically we need these big trucks, but sharing roads with them can be very dangerous. When driving near a tractor trailer, be alert and take extra safety precautions.

Know the Risks:

Most states allow very large trucks and tractor trailers to travel on major highways. The following are some of the current legal standards for semi trucks, tractors-trailers, and other large trucks:

A tractor-loaded trailer can reach a width of 8 1/2 feet - 50% wider than a passenger car. (102 inches)

The overall length of the truck carrying the trailer can reach 65 feet on the designated truck route.

The length of the tractor-trailer transport log can reach 70 feet, or more than 4 times the average length of a car.

There is no overall limit on the length of semi trucks, if pulling one trailer is not more dump truck hino than 50 feet or two trailers are not more than 28 ½ feet each.

The normal maximum load for a truck with one trailer can reach 80,000 pounds. Several states, including Michigan, allow trailers with many axles and tires to transport up to 120,000. Pay attention to these trucks which usually carry steel, gravel, heavy equipment, asphalt, and other very heavy items.

The maximum weight of a tractor truck with two trailers loaded can reach 160,000 pounds, about the same weight as 50 passenger cars.

The enormous size and weight of a tractor-trailer makes it a potentially dangerous vehicle, even if a skilled and careful truck driver is behind the wheel.

Safety Tips for Automatic Drivers Dividing Roads with Large Trucks

If you are on the highway near a tractor trailer or semi truck, you can reduce the risk of serious accidents by driving very carefully. Here are safety guidelines to help you protect yourself and your family:

Stay away from blind spot trucks. Even though each truck has side mirrors, the driver still has blind spots - areas right behind and on both sides of the truck where the driver cannot see the car. Look at the truck, if you cannot see the side mirror of the driver, you are in a blind spot and the driver cannot see you. If your car is next to a large truck, you can drive past or backward. If you are passing by, try driving your car on the left side where the blind spot is smaller.

Never follow a big truck too closely. Maintain 20 to 25 car lengths between the front of your vehicle and the back of a large truck. This extra distance allows you to see in front of the truck. If there is a traffic jam or accident ahead, you will see it in time to stop or steer your car safely from danger.

Be careful when passing a large truck. After you pass a big truck, don't pull your car back into the traffic lane until you can see the headlights on your rear view mirror. Leaving this extra distance gives the truck driver time to slow down or stop if something happens on the road ahead.

Always remember that a tractor-trailer or semi-loaded truck needs 100 yards - the length of a soccer field - to stop completely. No matter how crowded the highway is, make sure to keep this safe distance. If the truck driver ignores this safety margin and follows your car too closely, don't take the risk. Move your car to another traffic lane.

Always use your turn signal when changing lanes. Drivers around you need to know what you are doing to maintain a safe driving distance.

Lawyer Marya Sieminski joined Sam Bernstein's Law Office in 2003. He admitted that he practiced law in the Michigan state court and in the U.S. District Court. for the Eastern Michigan District. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated magna cum laude from Wayne State University Law School. Marya has worked as a lawyer for 10 years and exclusively represents victims in personal injury litigation and in workers compensation claims. He was also appointed by the Governor to serve on the Michigan State Workers' Compensation Qualification Advisory Committee. The Law Offices of Samuel I. Bernstein, our Michigan car accident and personal injury firm [http://www.michigan-auto-accident.com], have been fighting for the cause of Michigan car accident victims who have been seriously injured for three generations.