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It can be intimidating to drive anywhere near a truck, especially if you’re in a smaller car. After all, when driving, it’s important to not only be careful but also pay attention to the actions of surrounding vehicles.
However, trucks have significantly larger blind spots than smaller vehicles, and this can make accidents more likely. It’s important to be aware of common truck blind spots and to know how to avoid them if you can.
What exactly is a blind spot?
Driver visibility is defined as the furthest, widest distance at which the driver can view notable objects surrounding the vehicle. A vehicle’s blind spots are the areas surrounding the vehicle that the driver cannot see from their direct viewpoint while driving.
How are truck blindspots different from car blind spots?
Passenger vehicle blind spots exist primarily at a 45-degree angle behind the driver’s head. However, because trucks are larger than cars, but the people driving trucks aren’t necessarily larger than the people driving cars, truck blind spots tend to be much larger than car blind spots.
Common Truck Blind Spots
There are a few types of blind spots that often occur across a wide variety of trucks. When driving on the road with trucks, it is very important to keep these common blind spots in mind, be aware of your surroundings, and do your best to stay out of the blind spots of the trucks around you.
If you can’t, make sure to pay extra attention to the trucks on the road and practice defensive driving in case of an emergency. Here are a few common truck blind spots:
Behind the Truck
Because semi-trucks are, on average, between 70 and 80 feet long, and trucks with multiple trailers are liable to be over 100 feet long, drivers’ blind spots span a significant length behind them. Additionally, some trucks do not have rearview mirrors.
In Front of the Truck
This area is especially hazardous when it comes to commercial trucks. If you think about the enormity of the tractor (the front part of the truck), how far out it stretches, and how far off the ground the truck driver is, you won’t find it hard to believe that some drivers of commercial trucks have zero visibility up to 25 feet in front of the truck.
On the Left and Right Sides of the Truck
The left and right sides of the truck have similar blind spots (not identical due to the driver’s position within the vehicle) that start at the cab and span the length of the truck. These blind spots along the trucks’ flanks can encompass up to three lanes of traffic in either direction and are perhaps the most difficult to avoid.
Directly Below and Directly Behind the Driver’s Side Window
This one’s pretty self-explanatory. If a truck is large enough (and most commercial trucks are), the driver won’t be able to see a smaller vehicle driving right alongside them.
Have you ever been driving beside a truck three times the height of your car and wondered whether the driver was even aware that you were there? There’s a good chance they weren’t, and that can lead to careless driving.
Seeking Legal Aid for an Accident Involving a Truck Blind Spot
If you have been in an accident involving a truck blind spot, you might be unsure of how to proceed. Regardless of the other driver’s intention, if you are not at fault, then you are a victim and may be entitled to financial compensation. The trucking company will often say that you were driving in a blind spot and there was nothing the driver could do, but this is not accurate. We can help you defeat these arguments.
It is essential that you seek legal aid from an attorney with experience in personal injury cases and truck or car accidents. Contact Chatham Gilder Howell Pittman, a personal injury firm representing clients throughout North Mississippi, as soon as possible.
