Peter Owinje: 10 Things Motorists Should Be Aware of When Sharing the Road Trucks

Careless driving of a car driver while sharing the road with articulated vehicles and tanker trucks doubles your crash risk and endangers your life and the lives of other innocent road users. Whatever the case may be, either careless or dangerous driving while sharing the road with all kinds of heavy duty truck is a bid to an untimely death, “Two wrong things can never make a right”

The record of crashes involving tankers and trailers between 2007 and June 2010 on Nigerian roads shows that 5,825 tankers and haulage trucks were said to have been involved in road crashes. From this record, 12, 994 people were injured while 4,076 people died within the given period. {Source: FRSC}
Going by this statistics, it is obvious that sharing roads with truckers is a great risk and may result to a wanton loss of lives. The statistics also indicates that within 3 years and 6 months, 5,825 truckers were involved in road accidents which resulted to untimely deaths of 4,076 Nigerians, while as many as 12,994 people equally sustained serious injuries. These were unacceptable results.

Observations revealed that each time an accident occurs between smaller vehicles and all kinds of heavy duty trucks, smaller vehicles get the most damage. Car drivers suffer greater losses such as lives, properties etc.

As a car driver, when you realize what you are likely to lose if you have a head-on collision with an articulated vehicle, then you will agree with me that you need to be more safety conscious than the truckers on the road.
However, if you are a car driver or motorist with smaller vehicles, there are 10 things you must not do while sharing the road with all kinds of haulage trucks. Why? This is because any mistake committed by motorists with smaller vehicles in the proximity of haulage and tanker trucks may result to fatal accidents and the most end-losers are the motorists with smaller vehicles.

However, below are the tips or the things you must not do when sharing the road with truckers.

1. Do not shunt lanes anyhow in front of a truck.

2. Do not drive too close behind an overloaded truck that is climbing a hill. In other words, keep a reasonable distance away from any overloaded truck sloping upward or climbing a hill.

3. Speed up if you are in the front of a truck climbing down a hill or sloping downward.

4. Do not drive beside or close behind a truck in an area where the trucker has limited visibility. For example, heavy fog can reduce visibility of a motorist to a quarter of mile, therefore making it too difficult for a road user to see the road.

5. Do not swing to the right of a speedy truck at a junction and later make a left turn. You may endanger your life and the lives of others.

6. Do not shunt into traffic that can cause a truck to manoeuvre or brake suddenly.

7. Do not speed up when a truck changes lane or immerses into traffic in front of your car.

8. Do not slow down when you immerse into traffic or change lane in front of a truck.

9. Do not drive in between two large trucks.

10. Do not throw caution to the wind whenever you share the road with haulage trucks.

In conclusion, when you find yourself as a car driver in the vicinity of heavy duty trucks, always remember that your loved ones are at home waiting for your arrival. So, drive safely.

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