Every driver has probably experienced the feeling of white-knuckling the wheel while coasting beside a hulking 18-wheeler, your sedan suddenly feeling more like a tricycle on the highway. You try to casually glance over, hoping the trucker knows you’re there, but deep down, you’re wondering, “Can they even see me?” Sometimes it feels like they’re a sneeze away from merging right into your side panel.
The anxiety isn’t just paranoia. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, large trucks were involved in over 4,500 fatal crashes in 2024, and being caught in a truck’s blind spot is a great way to end up as one of these grisly semi-truck fatality statistics. If you’ve never driven a car, you need to know that a blind spot is any area around a vehicle where the driver can’t see you, and on a truck, these areas are many — huge no-go zones on both sides, in the front, and directly behind.
The right side in particular is a danger zone. If you’re hanging out there, you’re basically invisible to the truck driver. Combined with the truck’s inability to make quick corrections or brake fast in an emergency, driving in a trucker’s blind spot is a recipe for disaster. But you need not drive in fear. There are a few smart ways to dodge danger and stay in the clear.
See and be seen
It’s a pretty well known adage, even seen on decals on the trucks themselves: “If you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you!” This really is the best survival advice, since the blind spots on a semi stretch far longer and wider than most people realize. Within the area of about 30 feet behind, 20 feet in front, and along most of the right side is an alternate dimension where your existance is basically unknown to the driver. The left side has a blind spot too, but it’s a bit smaller.
The easiest way to tell if you’re in a blind spot is to check your own mirrors. If you can’t see both the driver’s side and passengar side mirrors clearly, or if you can’t see the driver’s face, you’re in the invisible zone. Also, beware of riding close behind. A trucker cannot see a tailgating car any more than you’d be able to see potential dangers up ahead. If the truck is forced to stop suddenly, you could find yourself under the trailer. This type of collision is called an underride crash, and they’re often fatal because the top of your vehicle can shear off on impact.
Get out of Dodge
If you find yourself unsure whether you’re on a truck driver’s visual radar, accelerate smoothly to move ahead, or ease off the gas and let them pull ahead of you. If you need to pass, do it smoothly and confidently. Signal early, don’t cut them off, and never cruise alongside the truck’s right flank. And when merging in front of a truck, remember that they can’t stop on a dime. A 40-ton tractor-trailer traveling 65 mph can take up to two football-field lengths to come to a complete halt. The key is to give them lots of space — think of it as highway social distancing. This also applies to intersections, because trucks need to swing wide when turning right and often have to start from the left lane.
If you can’t always give trucks a wide berth, there are other ways to at least let truckers know you’re there. A quick flick of your high beams or tap of your brake lights can help communicate not just your presence but your intentions, and even send a friendly signal that it’s safe for the driver to merge or pass. In fact, truck drivers have a whole code of light-based language they use to communicate to other drivers on the road.
The key to staying safe is to respect semi-trucks’ size and limits. Truck drivers already have a hard enough job, and the least we can do is follow a few basic rules of road decorum to make driving safer for everyone. Give them the space, time, and visibility they need to operate safely. Because on the road, invisibility is not a superpower.
