ST. GEORGE — With 1 out of every 4 vehicles on Utah roadways being a semitruck, the Utah Department of Transportation is stepping up efforts to educate Utahns on how to safely share the road with big rigs that are likely carrying several tons of freight as they drive by.
Last month, UDOT launched its “Truck Smart” campaign aimed at reminding Utah motorists that semitrucks “don’t drive like regular passenger vehicles,” Katie Lindley, a UDOT spokeswoman, told St. George News over the phone on Monday.
While the statewide campaign officially launched June 15, it has been running since 2012 and has primarily targeted new drivers, Lindley said.
The campaign, which is also a part of Utah’s Zero Fatalities program, provides safety awareness about sharing the road with semis to schools or wherever a driver’s education course is underway. This is accompanied by a presentation from a semitruck driver regarding what new drivers need to know.
Now the campaign is reaching out to all Utah drivers, particularly since around 25% of all vehicles on Utah roads are semitrucks. Estimations of semitruck prevalence in other states are around 12-13%. Utah is double that due to Interstate 15.
As of mid-June, there have been 24 commercial vehicle-related deaths in Utah this year, according to UDOT. There were a total of 43 related fatalities in 2022 and 52 in 2021.
“Seventy-five percent of the time, it is the driver of a passenger vehicle who is at fault (in a semitruck crash),” Lindsey said, referring to the national statistic.
Truck Smart safety tips:
- Can’t see me? I can’t see you — Drivers should make sure they can see the truck driver’s face when they are passing or driving near a semi. Better yet, they should make eye contact with the driver.
- Two lights in the mirror before you merge — Drivers should wait until they see the entire semi or both headlights in their rearview mirror before they merge or change lanes in front of a large truck. When passing a truck, drivers should allow one car length for every 10 mph. If you are traveling 60 mph, leave six car lengths between you and the front of the truck.
- Trucks turning? Stay back to stay safe — Drivers should stay back and give large trucks space if they have their blinkers on and are turning because these vehicles need to take wide turns in order to not hit anything. A semi’s height (up to 14 feet), length and weight make it nearly impossible for the driver to make tight turns like regular cars.
- Trucks need space. No matter the pace — Drivers should give large trucks space because it takes them nearly twice as much room as a regular car to stop. It takes a regular car going 65 mph in good weather 316 feet to come to a complete stop. It takes a semi in the same situation nearly double that. These trucks can also carry loads of up to 50,000 pounds, which adds to the truck’s inability to make a quick stop.
“I have far too many close, calls every single day driving on Utah roads,” Angie Cloud, who has driven a semitruck for 18 years, said in a UDOT press release. “As truck drivers, we go through intensive training to earn our Commercial Driver’s License, with hundreds of hours of training. We are doing everything we can to stay safe, but it is also up to the other people on the road to understand how to drive around us, so we all stay safe.”
Knowing a semitruck’s blind spots, which the campaign calls “no zones,” is also stressed by the Truck Smart program.
“Staying out of the blind spots is key,” Lindley said.
Since the Smart Truck campaign’s launch in mid-June, ads for it have appeared on billboards while also playing on online music streaming services like Pandora and Spotify.
Additional information and resources can be found on UDOT’s Truck Smart website. A version for commercial drivers can be found at this link.
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