For those of us who are riding in cars as trucks are whisking by, it’s hard to imagine that the people driving those huge vehicles are even the least bit intimidated while they’re out on the road. Yet the reality is that if you happen to be someone who drives a commercial truck, then you know, firsthand, how important it is to be extremely alert and also very aware of the safety rules that you should put in place; not just for your sake, but for the sake of all of the smaller vehicles that are around you.
In fact, that’s actually what this article is all about. If you happen to be someone who is new to the truck driving business or you’re simply curious to know about some of the rules that are in most commercial truck driving handbooks, we have provided you with a list of five of them below:
Wear your seat belt. Whether you’re riding in a car or a truck, something that you need to have on, at all times, is your seat belt. And actually, it’s extremely important when you’re in a large commercial truck. That’s because one of the major causes of deaths when it comes to trucking accidents is when someone is driving, does not have on their seat belt and then they are ejected from their vehicle. So no matter what, even if you are only going a few miles, make sure to put on your seat belt.
Maintain your vehicle. When you’re on the road for hours at a time, it can start to put a lot of wear and tear on your truck. That’s why it’s important to maintain it on a consistent basis. You need to check your fluids, brakes and tires. You also need to look at your maintenance manual to see what else your truck needs. One website that provides helpful maintenance tips is Select Trucks. Just go to the site and put “trucking maintenance” in the search field.
Pay attention to the weather. Something else that’s important to keep in mind is that you need to pay close attention to the weather forecast on the days when you’ll be traveling. You can do this by watching the Weather Channel or downloading weather apps like Weatherbug, Accuweather or Yahoo! Weather so that you can receive hour-by-hour updates.
Don’t drive drowsy. When a truck company is in the process of hiring a truck driver , one of the things that they tend to share with prospective drivers is the fact that another cause of accidents among trucker is driving more than 8-10 hours straight without taking a break. When this happens, they tend to get drowsy and that can cause them to fall asleep on the road. In order to avoid this from happening, it’s best to take breaks about every 6-7 hours and to also take a nap when you are sleepy. Truck drivers need to be alert at all times.
Use some truck driving gadgets. If you were to go to a website for some information on truck driving safety, one of the things that you might notice is an article on truck driving gadgets that will help to make traveling easier, and ultimately safer too. Some of our favorites include Durabook which is a tablet designed for the lifestyle of a trucker; Blue Parrot B250, which helps you to communicate better while you’re on the road and Garmin Dezl 560LT GPS, which is a GPS system that has a large display and backup cameras. For a list of other great truck safety gadgets, visit CDL Life or Truck Dog and put “trucker gadgets” in the search field.