Put yourself in the trucker’s shoes

The average person doesn’t come into your workplace and get inside your personal bubble, ready to cause life-or-death situations, yet that’s what many do to truck drivers daily. Being a truck driver is a lifestyle decision that can affect your safety constantly.

According to Trucking.net, one person is injured or killed in a truck accident every 16 minutes. For safety’s sake, we encourage you to put yourself in the trucker’s shoes. To help you do that, we’ve compiled a list of behavior on the roads that really grind a transportation worker’s gears.

Patience is a virtue

Nothing gets to a truck driver more than the impatient drivers around them. Secondary roads can make big-rig driving difficult. Unfamiliar roadways can wreak havoc on a semi changing lanes in heavy traffic. Sometimes our customer’s location is tight for deliveries. In circumstances like these, we need to drive slowly and carefully to avoid any serious mistakes or accidents. Please don’t honk or ride to closely if we’re not keeping pace because we’re usually looking for a place to safely turn around or for the right option to get there safely … for ourselves and the drivers around us.

We need more room

As the saying goes, if you can’t see our mirrors, we can’t see you either. Please avoid our blind spots and don’t follow too closely. If you merge into our lane in front of the truck, avoid hitting your brakes or slowing suddenly. It takes a lot to stop this truck! If it looks like we’ve found a place to turn around, please slow and let us complete the maneuver. For that matter, don’t get too far out into an intersection because we need more room to turn.

 When passing

Please don’t pass a semi or large truck from the right lane. If we’re cruising for any extended amount of time in the left lane, there is probably a reason. There might be an obstruction, construction, or some other situation we’re trying to avoid. It also takes us a little longer to make sure we’re clear to merge right, so give us time.

Please take a moment to breathe deeply and put yourself in our shoes. Together we can make the roadways safer. The whole Sisbro team thanks you!