Truck Driver Safety: 4 Tips To Avoid Accidents And Keep On Trucking
Our nation's truckers provide a great, honorable service to our country and keep everything on track, and my hat certainly goes off to them. Driving a truck can be dangerous for a driver, but they also hold the lives of a lot of other drivers in their hands as a big rig is the biggest of rigs on the road. If you're out there carrying the torch with the rest of them, keeping America running like clockwork, here are some tips to avoid accidents so everyone can get home safely.
1. Don't Push for Schedules
Trucking is a business and it's a demanding business that runs on tight schedules. Drivers are under tremendous pressure to get their loads to the destination on time. But all financial concerns and career realities aside, reality becomes an altogether different thing when a big rig goes haywire out on the open (or not so open) road. Your schedule will always be looming somewhere there in your mind, but do your best to not let it cloud your good judgment by pushing your hours beyond the limit or driving too fast. These are the types of things that lead to split second accidents.
2. Take Care of Your Body
It might seem a little off subject because most people don't think of someone who spends their life in the cab of a truck as someone who needs to be in shape. But if you don't get regular exercise, good food, adequate rest, your mind suffers as a result of poor health. You lose alertness and you just aren't ready for the demands of the road.
3. Don't Wield Your Weight
There's a subconscious impact of being the biggest rig on the road, and while most truckers are pretty good guys who make it a point to observe their responsibility to be extremely cautious, some do throw their weight around a little too much, expecting smaller cars will get the hint and get out of the way.
If you've ever done this, I'm sure you're taken aback a little bit now that you look at it this way, right? There's no getting around it