The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has partnered with the American Trucking Association (ATA), the American Automobile Association (AAA), and the American Bus Association (ABA) for a national safety campaign. The latest FMCSA campaign, which is titled “Our Roads, Our Safety” is introduced to increase safety on roads for over 12 million CMVs registered in the United States.
“FMCSA is pleased to work with a group of partners that are dedicated to safety and share our agency’s goal of reducing crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving large trucks and buses on the road.” said the FMCSA’s Deputy Administrator, Daphne Jefferson.
The campaign has undertaken multiple steps to increase road safety. The key developments include formulating and publishing the rules of the road for commercial vehicle drivers, passenger vehicle drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Videos, advertisements, infographics, and contests are used to publicize this new safety campaign.
The objective of the “Our Roads, Our Safety” campaign is to educate everyon on how to better our roads and improve safety for everyone. The COO of the American Trucking Association (ATA), Elisabeth Barna, shed light on this vision by saying, “whether you are a truck driver, bus driver, or a general motorist, we are all responsible for safely sharing our nation’s highways.”
Under the “Our Roads, Our Safety” campaign, FMCSA is highlighting valuable safety tips that could save lives. The road tips are shared for CMV drivers, regular drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Some of those tips are as follows:
1. Stay away from blind spots
Large commercial vehicles have huge blind spots. With this campaign, FMCSA is educating people how to identify and stay away from these blind spots. FMCSA marks 20 feet in front of the CMV and 30 feet behind the CMV as “no zones”.
Additionally, it is also suggested that if you can’t see the driver in the truck’s side mirror, it is safe to assume that they can’t see you either. In such a scenario, FMCSA suggests that you slow down or move ahead to stay visible.
2. Anticipate big, wide turns
Because CMVs are so big in size, they require extra turning room. Whenever a truck or bus indicates a turn signal, it is everybody’s responsibility to make sure they are not squeezing their vehicles between the truck/bus and the curb.
Large commercial vehicles may have a turning radius of approximately 55 feet. Make sure that you anticipate wide turns. And give truckers the extra space they require to operate safely.
3. Don’t cut it close
Cutting too close to any vehicle is, without any doubt, very dangerous. But it becomes all the more risky to “cut off” a commercial motor vehicle.
When you move in from either side, you are likely to be in the blind spot or “no zone”, as defined by the FMCSA. The CMV driver’s visibility would be affected, and they may not even see you.
In the rare instances when you’re visible, stopping a large truck or bus in time would still be near impossible. The amount of time it takes for huge buses and trucks to stop is different. They take approximately 40% longer to stop the vehicles. Which increases the probability of road accidents. So, stay safe and avoid cutting it too close to a large CMV.
Conclusion
The FMCSA’s latest campaign, “Our Road, Our Safety” is a positive initiative to promote road safety and increase awareness. It is everyone’s responsibility to make sure that they are playing their part in improving safety for all.
The rules specified by FMCSA for sharing our roads with commercial motor vehicles and large buses are important and must be remembered. If you have any questions regarding FMCSA’s safety campaign or the Motive ELD solution, give us a call at 855-434-3564.
