Driving safely around trucks

By: Bruce Newton

It can be intimidating, frustrating and annoying driving in amongst heavy trucks and semi-trailers. They’re big, noisy and tower over us in our passenger vehicles. We’re basically at eye level with their wheels … All 18 of them or more.

So it’s no surprise car drivers can make wrong decisions around trucks, in fact 80 per cent of fatal crashes involving trucks and passengers cars in Australia are the fault of the car driver.

In Western Australia the focus on the relationship between trucks and cars on our roads is not one that is going away. It is only going to become more acute in the coming years.

That’s because the local truck population is going to grow, in line with a nationwide trend.

The Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) has predicted the road freight task in Australia will grow by around 77 per cent between 2020 and 2050 to around 394 billion tonne-kilometres.

In WA, heavy vehicles are defined as being over 4.5 tonnes and includes buses as well as trucks. But our focus here is on heavy rigid and articulated trucks, of which there were nearly 72,000 on WA roads according to an Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Motor Vehicle Census.

“This increase is being driven by population growth, increased demand from trading partners in Asia, rapid changes in technology, e-commerce and consumer behaviour,” explained Transafe WA executive officer Rob Sharpe.

Transafe WA is a not for profit industry initiative created in-part to try and make interactions on the roads between trucks and cars safer. Sharpe is well aware that there’s a lot of work to be done to improve that relationship having accrued more than 30 years’ experience driving heavy trucks, including 10 years as a professional long haul driver.

“The biggest issue out there is impatience,” he says. “Passenger vehicle drivers are not giving the trucks the time to get up to speed, they’ll pull out in front of a truck and not wait for it to go past.

“There’s that human nature need to be in front of a truck and not behind it. Trucks in general are slower on the hills and you can get stuck behind them.

“It’s just the time factor.”

Following some simple rules and having a better understanding of how trucks move about on our roads can help keep both truck and car drivers safer. So with Sharpe’s help let’s work through them.

Why mass matters

The average weight of a car in Australia is estimated at 2050kg and its length at 4.9 metres. A single trailer heavy truck can weigh 42,500kg and be 19 metres long.

Some quad trailer road trains can weigh over 150,000kg and be up to 60 metres in length. That’s over 70 times heavier than the average car and 12 times longer.

But no matter what the size, the basic reality is trucks need longer to stop and more room on the road to manoeuvre than the cars, SUVs and utes most of us drive.

The National Truck Accident Research Centre’s (NTARC) Major Crash Investigation 2022 Report showed that 68 per cent of heavy vehicle at-fault crashes were with the vehicles travelling in the same direction, or rear-ending.

“Some of these crashes may have been the result of light vehicles cutting in front of heavy vehicles,” notes Sharpe.

In other words, car drivers simply aren’t appreciating the amount of room needed to stop these trucks.

Why space matters

It’s not only distance ahead that trucks need, but also space all around them. They are such big vehicles, they require more space to turn and manoeuvre.

“A vehicle fitted with a ‘DO NOT OVERTAKE TURNING VEHICLE’ sign can legally execute a left or right turn from the second or even third lane if needed,” explains Sharpe.

“Heavy vehicles need to swing wide when turning, so please hold back and give them the room they need and you’ll avoid being squashed.”

It doesn’t help that there are some blind spots where the truck driver simply won’t see you if you place your car there. The four most common are: immediately in front of the truck; beside the driver’s door; directly behind the truck and on the passenger’s side, from the door extending out across three lanes along the length of the truck.

Overtaking is another manoeuvre that requires added consideration because of the length of a truck. It’s easy to underestimate how long you will be on the wrong side of the road and that can lead to an extremely dangerous situation.

It’s telling that 44 per cent of car-at-fault crashes with trucks were head-ons.

“Often, it’s the HV driver who has to take evasive action to prevent a potentially fatal crash with oncoming traffic,” says Sharpe.

WA road conditions

Get out on WA’s regional highways and byways and you’ll find plenty of trucks. A greater percentage of them will also be the longer road trains.

You’ll also find caravanners, wildlife, rough, narrow and unsurfaced roads and a 100km/h speed limit for trucks and a 110km/h limit for passenger vehicles.

On top of that, of course, the longer rural travelling distances mean there is more potential for driver fatigue, especially when driving into the night.

“Some of the longest road trains share the roads that lead to our most popular tourist destinations in Western Australia,” notes Sharpe. “They require more care when overtaking.”

It’s a mix that has the potential for disaster, especially when it comes to overtaking road trains.

There are some fundamental rules when it comes to assessing such a move and then completing it successfully.

Firstly, do you even need to overtake? If you’ve got a stop scheduled at the next town it might be safer to relax and cruise to your destination without taking any risks.

If you decide you have to overtake, establish that the road ahead is definitely clear far enough ahead for you to execute the manoeuvre and that there are broken white lines indicating you’re legally allowed to drive on the right side of the road.

Make sure you check your mirrors before pulling out in case another vehicle is coming up trying to overtake both you and the truck.

And don’t forget to signal your intentions with continuous use of the right indicator when passing and left indicator when pulling back in. Make sure you give the truck plenty of room when you do return to the left lane.

Once the overtake is completed move swiftly up the road and create a good gap between you and the following truck.

What should you do when a truck wants to overtake you? Sharpe says it annoys truckers that slower passenger vehicles speed up when an overtaking lane arrives.

“An overtaking lane is not an invitation for you to speed up, it’s there to allow faster moving traffic to safely overtake you,” Sharpe says. “Lift your foot, allow the traffic to clear and be courteous on the road.”

And if you’re on a single lane road and a truck wants to pass, then maintain your speed until it is out in the other lane. Then slow down so the truck can get by more quickly.

Slow down too soon and the truck will have to do the same. It takes a long time for a heavy vehicle to regain momentum, which means the overtake will take longer.

“Just be predictable,” says Sharpe. “The truck driver can work out what his manageable speed is from there and construct his overtaking manoeuvre.”

Communication is key

Sharing WA’s roads with trucks should not be an us and them conflict for passenger vehicle drivers.

Many truck drivers are highly skilled and exceedingly courteous. They’re being paid to carry precious cargo as a livelihood. The last thing they want is for that process to be interrupted, especially in a calamitous way.

Communication is a key to making the wheels turn smoothly. UHF radios are essential in heavy vehicles and increasingly used by caravanners and 4x4ers.

“Positive communication is a big help,” says Sharpe.”

On the road with the Safety Truck

The latest Transafe WA initiative to improve communication between truck and car drivers is the Instruckta! Safety truck.

“It’s a prime mover and customised double expanding trailer/mobile classroom,” explains Sharpe.

“It is on-road continually travelling to schools and community events across WA, educating current and future road users on how to share the road safely with heavy vehicles.”