18 wheeler
Being careful on the road by using turn signals, not speeding, and driving more cautiously in the dark or in bad weather, comes logically to most drivers. What takes a little more thought is realizing that we have to adapt our driving habits around bigger vehicles like 18-wheelers.
I found that out on my recent trip to Laredo. 18-wheelers are really different than your average compact car. They have bigger blind spots, take longer to slow down and speed up, and they have almost 5 times the number of tires than a car. On my trip an 18-wheeler had a huge blow out and had I not kept the distance I had, the shredded tire would have smacked my windshield and possibly cracked or broken it. The driver of the 18-wheeler would have had no clue because of his blind spot. I am lucky, but don’t press your luck just keep your distance and be ready to drive defensively.
I also had a bad expierence with an 18 – wheeler a rock that was tossed up from the rubber flaps on the back tires of this monster hit my windshied and cracked it really badly. I had to pay $150 to get it fixed. KEEP YOUR DISTANCE!
This is very true and should have more attention brought towards it.
Bronte High School, Bronte Texas
Besides keeping distance, two important things to remember with 18 wheelers is j
1. to stay in front or behind in order to stay out of their blind spot and
2. when merging onto a highway it is easier to speed up in get in front (if possible) than to slam on your brakes and try to get behind which might cause a rear end accident and slow traffic down since everybody behind you will be going 20mph trying to merge.