UDOT

Professional semi-truck driver shares experiences from the driver’s seat

With more commercial vehicles on Utah’s roads than any other state, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is educating Utahns on safe practices for sharing the roads. UDOT’s new Truck Smart campaign urges drivers to learn how to safely share the road with big rigs.

There have been 24 commercial motor vehicle-involved fatalities on Utah’s roads so far this year, and passenger vehicle drivers are responsible for 75 percent of the crashes involving semi-trucks.

“It’s clear that we need to better understand how to safely share the road,” said Katie Lindley, UDOT spokesperson. “All it takes is a few simple changes in the way we drive every day to make our roads safer for everyone.”

The Truck Smart campaign reminds passenger vehicle drivers of two main practices when merging and driving around large trucks:

1. When passing or driving near a semi-truck, drivers should look for the truck driver’s face in their mirrors or even make eye contact with the truck driver.
2. Before merging in front of a large truck, drivers should make sure they see the entire truck or both headlights in their rearview mirror before moving over.

“I have far too many close calls every single day driving on Utah roads,” said Angie Cloud, who has driven a semi for 18 years. “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.”

Utahns can see the campaign on social media, billboards and hear it through streaming services. For further information about Truck Smart and the truck safety campaign, please visit trucksmart.udot.utah.gov.