Every vehicle has its blind spots.
Compared to most other vehicles, a transfer truck, multiple yards long with limited sight distance from the cabin, has more than its share.
A big truck will have multiple blind spots, at the front, at the rear and on both sides. This creates numerous places another vehicle can be traveling alongside you without you ever the wiser, an essentially invisible vehicle that you don’t know exists, unless a lane change creates a conflict between big and small traveling vehicles.
This can be a recipe for disaster if proper caution is not observed.
Truck drives must know their truck’s blind spots and how to work within their limitations.
New equipment can help minimize blind sports if utilized correctly. A combination of mirrors, cameras, and sensors and help detect things in your truck’s blind spots so you can avoid hitting them.
Correct use of existing equipment is needed, too. Make sure your mirrors are properly positioned so you can see as much as you should be able to see from the cab and don’t unintentionally make your blind spots bigger than they should be.
New technologies are helping, too. Lane departure technology can alert you to something in your blind spot so you avoid shifting lanes into the path of some hapless motorist unaware of your intent.
That, of course, is the biggest problem you’ll face with your blind spots: four-wheel drivers who insist on drifting into those blind spots.
Many 4 wheel drivers fail to familiarize themselves with a truck’s blind spots and therefore will allow themselves to move into positions around a truck anyone could tell them is an unsafe place to stay for a long period of time. You’ll get ready to change lanes and this careless driver will only then realize how vulnerable their foolishness has made them.
Unfortunately, even in such a case, if you collide with another driver in your blind spot, you are still most likely to be held at fault. Ultimately, it’s up to you to be aware of your surroundings, even if the other driver could have driven much more safely around you.
Fleet Risk Solutions can help you find better ways to address your truck’s blind spots and mitigate them via technical means. Should the worst happen, they can also help you navigate the labyrinthine insurance claim process to mitigate the damage of such an incident.
The best way to avoid such problems, though, is through careful assessment of your truck and where its blind spots are, and from there, careful driving that keeps those blind spots in mind at all time to avoid collisions at all costs.
It’s up to you, and all your fleet drivers, to account for your trucks’ blind spots when on the road.
With proper defensive driving, technical assistance from properly used equipment and technology and the help of Fleet Risk Solutions, blind spots don’t have to be your truck’s downfall, simply one more concern that can be mitigated to your benefit.
About the Author
Logan utilizes a holistic approach to assist trucking companies with growth, and survival in one of the most volatile times in our history. A strong risk management program is critical for every business, but trucking companies are extremely susceptible to breaks in the risk management process. Maintenance violations, driver violations, breakdowns, driver turnover, and the list goes on, all have a domino effect on each other, and the cost of operating a trucking company.