American Trucking Associations’ Safety Quiz
The following is a list of questions and answers on how to better share the road with trucks:
Question: Where is the largest blind spot around a truck?
Answer: The right side of the truck; if possible, avoid passing on the right side of a truck.
Question: True or False: Big trucks have more tires and bigger brakes so they can stop faster than smaller vehicles.
Answer: False. It takes a fully loaded truck traveling 60 MPH the length of a football field to come to a safe stop.
Question: How many lives might be saved by staying out of trucks’ blind spots?
Answer: Approximately 1,300 lives per year in the US are lost in crashes where vehicles are in a truck’s blind spot. (35% of all fatal accidents with large trucks occur in trucks’ blind spots according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.)
Question: What is a safe traveling distance for a car when following a truck at highway speeds?
Answer: Stay at least 20-25 car lengths behind the truck so that you have time to react to any changes in the road ahead, from debris, accidents, or slow downs. (Keep the trucks’ mirrors in sight at all times.)
Question: True or False: Truck-involved fatal accidents have decreased over the past 5 years.
Answer: True. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), fatalities in crashes involving large trucks have decreased every year since 1997, despite more trucks and cars being on the road than ever in the United States.
