No one wants to be in an accident with an 18-wheeler. Truck drivers are professionals. They drive all the time and they are some of the best drivers on the road. That doesn’t mean that you should throw caution to the wind and expect everything to be just fine when you are driving around big commercial trucks.

The size and weight of a semi tractor trailer truck makes it hard to maneuver and hard to get back into control once the chain of events leading to an accident gets started. You can substantially reduce your chance of being involved in an accident with a large truck by driving responsibly and by understanding their limitations and what can go wrong.

Equipment failure
No matter how much you trust the driver’s ability, and even when you have the legal right of way, consider this – equipment failure is out of the driver’s hands and honors no laws except the laws of physics.

Tires, brakes, steering components, couplers, axles, turn signals, and horns are just some of the parts that can fail on large trucks. If you’re in the way when equipment fails, you will be hurt or killed.

Trucking laws require regular inspections. Trucking companies do not always comply with inspection schedules and they many fail to maintain their vehicles. Equipment failure can also be the fault of manufacturers or repair shops.

Jackknifing
When a truck folds as the trailer tries to pass the cab, it’s called jackknifing. Many things can cause a truck to jackknife including:
• Brake malfunction
• Sudden braking
• Sudden turning
• Slipper roads
• Uneven road surfaces
• Impact to the truck

Jackknifing caused by malfunctioning brakes often involves a combination of the front brakes locking up and rear brakes failing, causing the cab to stop as the trailer stays in motion. Jackknifing can quickly progress into a deadly rollover accident, involving multiple lanes of traffic and multiple vehicles.

Experienced drivers, and those with proper training, know how to anticipate when another vehicle may have entered a blind spot and the correct procedures to avoid a collision, even though they cannot see all of the perimeters of the truck. Any driver can make a mistake, and you have no way of knowing which trucks are being operated by experienced drivers or if the driver is impaired.

Wide turns
Long trucks have to make wide turns. To do this they swing out to the left before making a right hand turn, taking up two lanes of traffic. In the process they leave an opening to their right. If you pull into that opening, you’re pulling into a blind spot. The truck driver will not be able to see you, and can easily be crushed by the truck as it makes its turn.

Other cars
There is another variable to consider, besides you and the truck driver – all the other drivers. If you see another vehicle behaving unsafely near a big truck, keep you distance. When a truck driver is forced to take sudden evasive maneuvers due to the behavior of other drivers, an accident may result, and you need time to avoid getting caught in the middle of it.