Driving on our roads often means sharing them with different vehicles and drivers with different experience levels.
How do you drive around trucks and heavy vehicles?
- It’s important to be wary of trucks and the limited visibility and stopping distance available to truck drivers.
- Be wary of truck blind spots and avoid sitting next to trucks where possible
- If you’re in the vicinity of a truck, avoid driving immediately behind it as you will not be visible to the driver.
- If you can’t see the trucks side mirrors, the driver will not see you.
- If you’re in a lane next to a truck, sit well behind them so the driver can use their rear-view mirrors to keep you in sight.
Don’t let a moment of impatience lead to a dangerous mistake on the road.
• When sharing the road with trucks, it’s important to remember to leave enough space.
• Always leave a safe gap, both in front and behind trucks as they can take up to 40% longer to stop than a car.
Truck drivers are also encouraged to:
- Regularly check mirrors.
- Leave plenty of space, in case you need to break suddenly.
- Keep left as much as possible and allow drivers to overtake safely.
- Indicate with plenty of notice to give other drivers notice of your movements and time to move out of the way.
- Consider installation of blind spot sensors.
Road safety is everyone’s responsibility but that starts with you.
What about oversized loads? The trucks that take up the whole road and are usually in a convoy with a pilot vehicle and that can give you a bit of a panic moment…
An oversize load could be an old house moving to a new location, equipment for mines or giant turbines for a wind farm.
What to do when approaching a wide load
- If the oversize load is coming towards you and there’s a pilot or escort vehicle in front of it, they’ll signal to you to slow down, pull off onto the shoulder, and stop.
- If you have UHF radio, they may call you on Channel 40 to tell you what to do.
- Once the load has safely passed, continue on your way
What to do when coming up behind a wide load
- Slow down, keep a safe following distance, and wait for directions.
- Only overtake when you’re signalled to and don’t hesitate while overtaking. Pass quickly without speeding.
- If there’s no pilot or escort, only overtake unless there’s a very long, straight stretch of road and you can see clearly what’s ahead.
- Do not overtake the pilot or escort vehicle behind the load and get stuck in between. This makes it hard for everyone to do their job safely, and you’re putting yourself and others at risk.
The truck driver, pilots and escorts, all need space to keep you safe.
For more information, visit the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s website:
