Safe Driving Near Tractor Trailers and Semi Trucks

If you are on the highway near a large truck, you can reduce the risk of a serious Michigan truck accident by driving with extra care.  Here are safety guidelines to help you protect yourself and your family:

• Stay out of truck blind spots.  Although every large truck or tractor-trailer has side mirrors, the truck driver still has blind spots, or areas on both sides of the truck where he or she cannot see vehicles in nearby traffic lanes.  If you find yourself next to a large truck, either drive on past or back off.  If you are passing, try to drive on the left side of the tractor-trailer or semi truck, where the blind spot is smaller.

• Never follow a large truck or tractor-trailer too closely.  Keep 20 to 25 car lengths between the front of your vehicle and the back of a large truck.  This extra distance will allow you to see in front of the large truck or tractor-trailer.  In case there is congested traffic or an accident up ahead, you will see it in time to stop or safely steer your car away from the danger.

• Use extra caution when passing a large truck or tractor-trailer.  After you pass a large truck, do not pull back into its traffic lane until you can see its headlights in your rear view mirror.  Leaving this extra distance gives the driver of the large truck or tractor-trailer  time to slow down or stop if something is happening on the highway ahead.

• Always remember that a loaded tractor-trailer or semi truck needs as much as 100 yards -- the length of a football field -- to come to a complete stop.  No matter how crowded the highway, make sure to maintain this safe distance.  If the driver of a tractor-trailer or other large truck ignores this margin of safety and keeps following too closely, do not take a chance.  Move your car into another traffic lane.

Get Help If You Are In a Michigan Truck Accident with a Large Truck or Tractor-Trailer

No matter how carefully you drive, sometimes you cannot avoid getting into a motor vehicle crash.

You need to protect your legal rights.

If you or a family member is injured in a Michigan highway accident involving a truck or  tractor-trailer, consult an experienced Michigan truck accident attorney , before you talk with the insurance company of the person at fault. If you sign the wrong papers, you may give up all your legal claims for payment of medical bills and lost income, as well as compensation for the pain and suffering caused by the Michigan truck accident .

After Michigan truck accidents , injured victims and their families tend to focus on their physical, emotional, or financial challenges.  Nevertheless, the time that Michigan truck accident law allows an adult -- or a child -- to act to preserve legal rights starts to run from the day of the Michigan truck accident.

Therefore, make the time to talk with an experienced Michigan truck accident lawyer immediately. Just click here to make out a simple, free and confidential legal consultation form about your Michigan truck accident claim now.