While most fears around driving near heavy trucks stem from chances of dying on impact, there is another lower-speed sort of commercial vehicle collision worth worrying about, because it seems incredibly chaotic. As this footage illustrates, just because you can see a dump truck doesn’t necessarily mean the driver of said dump truck can see you.
Toronto news channel CP24 was reporting on possible bike lanes for Avenue Road when its cameras captured footage of an eleventh-generation Toyota Corolla being pushed sideways by a dump truck. As per the news outlet:
In the video, the truck is seen pushing the car to the side, prompting the driver to climb out of her vehicle on the passenger side and run to the sidewalk, where she appears to raise her hand to alert the truck driver.
The truck shortly comes to a stop, and the driver gets out to check on what is happening. The two drivers are then seen talking.
Although we don’t know what caused this collision, damage to the driver’s side of the rear bumper on the Corolla conjures up several theories. Whatever happened, it was relatively quick thinking of the Corolla driver to get out on the passenger side and wave the truck driver down, a feat only possible due to relatively slow speeds. The speed limit on that stretch of road stands at 40 km/h (25 mph), and during the day, sometimes traffic moves even slower than that.
While it’s shocking to see a car being pushed sideways by a heavy vehicle, it’s also more common than you’d think. Commercial trucks have huge forward blind spots, to the point where a smaller car can be completely hidden from view directly in front of a truck. While it’s possible the truck driver in this incident felt something, there’s a chance they saw nothing, especially with the Corolla being perpendicular to the truck.
If you drive a smaller vehicle, exercise caution around heavy trucks. Just because you can see them doesn’t mean they can see you. Give them plenty of space, be actively aware of their visibility limitations, and always have an escape route should anything go horribly wrong. Even if you’re a responsible driver with no history of collisions, you still have to worry about everyone else on the road.
(Photo credits: CP24)
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Shouldn’t these trucks have some sort of forward camera or safety system that stops them from doing this?
Yes.
East bound and down, loaded up and truckin’
Were gonna do what they say can’t be done
I havent seen a dump truck with a nice new Western 49x cab, every dump truck I see around here looks like it was made in the 70s-80s
Currently driving a brand new rental 4wd Silverado as a rental on a business trip in BC Canada. This could happen to me in THAT truck, forward sightlines are horrendous. I’ve driven 1 tons with better views of the road ahead.
I saw a similar crash at highway speed in about 1980. Semi pushed the car sideways for a significant distance. Memory is hazy, but maybe 1/8 to 1/4 mile. I don’t remember how the car ended up getting released, but the semi was still moving at speed. Took him maybe ten minutes to walk back after he pulled over. Amazingly, the car driver and passenger walked away.
My memory is that it was a pinto. Something of similar size, anyway.
Psa from a trucker: please be respectful of us, we are trying our best to not kill your disrespectful fellow car drivers. If we are trying to get over, it is usually for a reason. Most truckers will move over for a car in the breakdown lane, to give them space. Most car drivers don’t. Also, if we are stopped in traffic, and have space in front of us, this space IS NOT FOR YOU! IT IS SO WE CAN SEE THE CARS IN FRONT OF US. YOU ALWAYS COMPLAIN ABOUT BRODOSERS CROWDING YOU AT LIGHTS, BUT WHRN WE LEAVE ROOM, YOU STICK YOUR DUMB SELVES INTO IT!
Sorry. But I had to get that out. In fact, I belive that is what happened in this video. Truck left room, car stuck nose in it to shove it’s way into traffic, truck started moving, pushed car. Exactly the same thing happened to my coworker.luckily we have dash cams. No fault on my coworker, according to a California police department. Which is strange for that truck hating state
I just wanna say I appreciate you posting here and do my level best to be respectful to truckers on and off the roadways. I’ve personally had a trucker’s cool headedness save my ass more than once.
I wasn’t aware the idea was to leave space. I apologize for my shitbag driving doing that if you’ve ever had to come to Florida.
No worries, you blended in with all of the other shitbag driving there!
lol fair enough. It’s a jungle out there!
There’s a stretch of I-10 here in Tucson where you can easily tell the big truck drivers who know the area versus those that don’t. The highway loses the left lane eastbound going from 3 lanes to 2 approaching the Kino exit (exit 263). That exit is a clover leaf for folks exiting AND entering the interstate. Old school, limited, combo entry/exit lane.
The truckers who know that interchange get in the middle lane which becomes the left lane before they lose the left lane and stay there through the cloverleaf and then get right as soon as it’s safe to do so. This helps let people on and off at that interchange This is the best possible thing for them to do for preserving traffic flow in that stretch. But yahoos try to get in front of the big trucks using the dying 3rd lane and/or the shoulder and force hard braking and other avoidance which screws up the flow. Some big trucks absolutely will straddle the two left lanes as the merge from 3 to 2 approaches to prevent the yahoos, but not always successful.
I live off Wentworth, so I know exactly what you are talking about. That stretch from there to Kolb is an unmitigated disaster. Sad part is it would be an easy fix. Change the merge to the 2 right lanes merge, and have trucks stay in the left lane to Kolb. Safer, less congestion. But instead we have the greediest bears in AZ hang out on that stretch, waiting to bust any trucker impeding traffic, which forces trucks over right at the Irvington/Ajo/Alvernon/Valencia interchanges, straight into airport traffic. But if we do go to the right lane, everyone using those exits cut us off and blames us. No win for truckers.
I know the intent for the traffic coming up I-19 is the bypass they want to make from south of Sahuarita around to where Rita Rd comes in, but that’s years away. A bit of lane config could help and doable in what I expect is less time and money. They need it to be 3 lanes in each direction to at least Kolb if not Houghton (I live a bit east of Houghton). If you spot a yellow 2005 Pontiac GTO with a black stripe on the side, that’s probably me.
Everything is years away in Tucson. Look how long everything south of Marana is taking
That is a western star 49x semi. Excellent visibility from the cab except for that passenger front corner, due to its extreme left seating position. Funny thing is, my long hood Pete actually has better visibility, except straight up front. I can lean forward and see both backs of my headlights. As for the small, six foot wide patch I can’t see, I mounted a school bus mirror to the hood. I can see the ground in front of my truck. Better viz than from my yaris in my opinion.
I drive buses occasionally, and I’ve found that a convex mirror on the front corner really does wonders for visibility
i find it very hard to believe that they that trucker did not see the car. They were just a jackass about it. i have been in 18 wheelers and i could see 4in lowered Hondas back in the day over the hood and whatever they claim for blind spots. it is just that they think they own the road
I’ve have trucks that have curb sniffer noses and blind spot mirrors and still have had cars sneak up in that corner. Especially when cars are being asholes to truckers. It is far more common for the car to be the aggressor and be in the wrong. 75% of car semi collisions are caused by cars. And in semi trucks equipped with cameras, that ratio jumps even farther in the trucks favor
I think you are being generous in saying only 75% of collisions are the responsibility of the car drivers. I think it’s far higher, and based on what I see when driving in Toronto, this was 100% the fault of the Civic driver. Far too many drivers in Ontario should not have their drivers licenses.
Another reason to switch to cab-over designs, where the massive hood doesn’t exist.
Cab overs have even worse visibility. I’ve drove one, and you can’t see much of anything for 40 feet in front of you
I wonder if modern Euro-style ones are better, they look like they’d have great visibility.
For the non-profit I work with I rent and drive 26′ trucks several times per year for the last 10 years. It has been several years since all of their trucks have been equipped with CMS. The most recent Internationals have OEM systems that display in the instrument cluster while the older Internationals and all the Freightshakers have aftermarket systems. https://newsroom.ryder.com/news/news-details/2017/Ryder-Introduces-Innovative-Safety-Technologies-and-Sets-Standard-for-New-Vehicles-Coming-into-Its-Rental-Fleet/default.aspx
It is surprising that such systems that the gov’t still hasn’t passed laws requiring it on commercial vehicles.
As of this year, they are required. However, they work about as well as a subaru.
In the 100 + rentals I’ve had only one of them was out of service and from my estimation except when it is snowing heavily they seem to report the correct distance to and speed of the vehicle you are following.
I’ve had the ones that freak out over random shadows. But hopefully the newer ones get better. Too bad to many people will over rely on them. Good truckers never let tech do their jobs
I am a Diesel Tech and drive dump trucks around the yard daily. I find it very hard to believe he didn’t see the car. I presume he was stopping his extremely heavy vehicle as fast as he could. That said, some of the things we repair are not testaments to driver competence, so possible. Let’s say, an attentive driver would definitely be able to see the car, if just the trunk as it would be outside any blind spot.
That escape maneuver was incredibly stupid. Ask Jeremy Renner how well running in front of a moving vehicle went for him. A fraction of a second could have put her underneath her Corolla.
Yeah. It’s clever but that doesn’t mean it was smart. She was safer in the car.
Commercial trucks have huge forward blind spots, to the point where a smaller car can be completely hidden from view directly in front of a truck.
That’s an easy fix, just require large trucks to have grill cams. Or mirrors.
no, they do not. you can see the hood of a car a foot in front of you. it is that the truckers are jackasses ant they think the road belongs to them
Sigh. Just cause you sat in a truck once doent mean anything
i had a CDL as a backup for my family’s business, although i did not do any OTR. i just gave up on it when the business was sold, so not just sitting in a truck once or twice
Then you should know better. And as for your claims about us, here is three articles from law firms specializing in lawsuits AGAINST truckers, stating truckers are far less likely to be at fault.
https://www.morellilaw.com/faqs/percentage-accidents-caused-by-semi-trucks/https://slaterzurz.com/what-percentage-of-truck-accidents-are-caused-by-cars/#:~:text=car%20accidents.,81%25%20of%20all%20trucking%20accidents.https://www.inletlaw.com/blog/2021/march/what-percentage-of-truck-accidents-are-caused-by/#:~:text=If%20we%20assume%20a%20margin,wheel%20of%20the%20big%20rig.
Ya know, I’m trying to understand where you are coming from, but your name calling just hurts. Here we are working long hours, trying to deliver your stuff, and you folks pull out in front of us, cut us off, treat us like trash. We drive over 100000 miles a year, and any trucker that has more than 2 wrecks in 250000 miles is pretty much pric3d out of insurance. Myself, I’ve drove 2 million miles, and in that time, 0 speeding tickets, 0 traffic infractions, and 1 NO FAULT accident, from a guy blowing a stopsign and running into my truck, because he was too busy texting. And I am considered average for a truck driver. Truck drivers, as a whole, are much less likely to be in accidents than car drivers. And people like you, that call us names, generally are the ones CAUSING accidents with us, because you feel entitled to cause us problems. As for owning the road, we pay massively higher road taxes, and the interstate was conceived as a way to facilitate interstate commerce. So yes, the roads were built for us.
because of the dude driving 3in from the rear bumper and went through 1/3 of the family minivan when someone cut in front of me, and also the decision to switch lanes to the left lane when you are at their tandem axle on the lane next over forcing you to go on the shoulder (this is about 5mph max speed differential).
yes, there are courteous truckers, but those are very rare. Now it is 95% jackasses. Before covid hit it used to be the other way around
Unfortunately you have a point. And there is a reason for it. Our govt, in its infinite wisdom, decided a long time ago, it would be an easy fix to the trucker shortage to fast track immigrants into semi trucks with minimal training, and no familiarization with a vehicle 50 feet longer than they are used to, and no explanation on the difference in road laws. So now you have poor folks not used to American roads tring to drive like they are back home. And to top it off, most are employed by crooks who take advantage of them, pay them less than minimal wage, and threaten to deport them for not working illegal hours. And the percentage of good truckers is dropping because of this program shoving freight rates so low you can’t make a living.
Thank you for your service.
Pretty sure almost all truckers aren’t psychotic/stupid enough to knowingly smash into a car.
Yeah, it’s not like there’s 0% damage to the truck in this collision. Who decides they want to deliberately dent their rig, be late for where they’re going, deal with an angry or potentially injured motorist, and have to file a shitload of paperwork, just to prove they’re “king of the road?” Road rage and adrenaline poisoning are real, but I can’t believe someone would calmly do this on purpose.
That front bumper costs almost a grand. And then you know that lady is gonna call that accident attorney with the catchy jimgle
Ask me how my 1973 BMW 2002 was totaled.
Okay, okay, I’ll tell the story. Driver of a big rig pulled up behind Mrs. OverlandingSprinter at a stop light, then wanted to turn right on red and forgot our 2002 was in front of him because he lost it under his hood.
Why the fuck we don’t have a front blind spot camera law for trucks is beyond me. We require reverse cameras on all cars. They put reverse beepers on everything else. It would be a triviality to mount cameras to truck hoods. Even a retrofit for all existing trucks would cost next to nothing. Like the cost of a retread tire or some shit. You’d think the insurance industry would instantly get behind that. Maybe someday.
Insurance calls them a distraction. I’ve tried it.
There are radar systems that work in conjunction with a camera system. We install them on off-highway haul trucks and you have a screen that shows almost anything around the vehicle and will actually circle the item on the screen in green (for safe distance), yellow (for caution) or red (for danger). Having said that, if the object is not moving, the system shows it but does not highlight it, and even with all that there are small blind spots.
That is excellent and exactly the kind of thing I believe should be required on all trucks. Granted there may still be blind spots, but hopefully a car is large enough to be visible.
I’m impressed with how fast she skedaddled. I’m not sure I could get out of my car that fast. And then I’d probably end up under my own car.
Wow, that video certainly under delivered
Don’t dump on the video.
oldy but goody if you want something a little more dramatic:
https://youtu.be/ufQPDJnmgdA?si=9lGcMtd4YsVXrclh
Damn, Corolla or dump truck driver . . . I guess I’ll go with the Corolla being at fault. Any other truck and it would be a definite and unhesitant guess of being the Corolla’s fault, but dump truck drivers are the worst.
My son’s ’03 Civic effectively got PIT-ed by a semi on I-287 one night. Pinballed back and forth across 3 lanes. The trucker admitted fault. The car was so old, no report was filed, even after a trooper showed up. It got towed, but the damage turned out to be cosmetic. With some zip ties to reattach the front bumper, it soldiered on well beyond 200K, even passing to my daughter.
Hey there where ya goin’? Not exactly knowin’. Who says you have to call just one place home? He’s goin’ everywhere, B.J. McKay and his best friend Bear.
It looked so easy on The Fast and the Furious.
I don’t think I would have gotten out of the car, too many ways for that to go pearshaped even at low speed. Probably better to hold onto the oh shit bar and stand up in the doorway, in order to wave at the truck driver.
Yeah, that was a move with a potential of turning vehicular damage into a fatality. If she had tripped or stumbled this would be a very different story.
To me this is a great argument for cab over European style trucks.
Also a great argument for European style bonneted trucks, for those drivers/owners who don’t want cabover. There really is no good reason for the long-nosed North American truck, except in very special applications. This is a mostly solved (or at least greatly reduced) problem today, if it weren’t for some weird image anxiety in the trucker community.
Also comfort, long nosed trucks ride better, more European truckers would buy them in a heartbeat if length there regulations allowed it
And durability. We have 2 million mole Pete long hoods with lower lifetime repair costs than 500k mile freightliners
Yeah there is a good reason for the US style long hood trucks and that is called the Bridge Formula, 1/2 a ton per foot is significant.
If you can make eye contact with the driver, they can see you. Otherwise assume they cannot.
This
And, as Gramps said, always assume the other guy is blind, drunk, or crazy.
It even says it on a lot of the trucks!
Unfortunately, as a motorcyclist, even that’s sometimes insufficient. People can be looking right at you and then turn across your lane. You just have to assume you’re invisible.
In my experience you are to them. Three of five mc accidents due to drivers not seeing me.
I always use the eye contact trick as well as assuming that everyone is a bad driver out to get me.
Based on my experience, OTR and other large trucks are far less likely to engage in idiot driving shenanigans compared to car, half ton and mc drivers.
just another day in downtown Toronto – Drive to Survive
What are the laws in Canada regarding wearing headphones while driving? In PA, I was always told driving with headphones on is against the law, as you are unable to hear the surrounding drivers. However, every single amazon driver I see wears headphones while driving, so the law doesn’t seem to be in practice in most places.
Given how loud these trucks can be, it might only be hearing protection. The world may never know.
In Michigan, there is no law against wearing headphones will driving. I suppose you could get ticketed for something if you are sufficiently distracted, but I haven’t heard of that happening.
Ditto Washington State. I suppose it’s unenforceable especially given the proliferation of near-invisible ear- and airbuds. Probably like seatbelts where you can’t be pulled over for it but if they catch you for something else you just fix it before the officer gets to your window.
In Ontario it is not illegal to wear headphones while driving, but wearing them can be considered as a contributing factor by police during an accident investigation. Part of the law on handsfree phone use mentions using an earpiece (generally only one ear). However, you can get a driver’s license when you are deaf, so hearing is not mandatory for driving. I have significant hearing loss but that never gets tested in a driver license examination. Lots of people have their sound systems turned up high enough that they can’t hear anything outside of their car, so that’s no different than a set of headphones in reality.
This, is 100% correct, also ear buds. When i was commuting regularly, many seem to infer hands free mean’s leaving the phone on their lap or on console and continue distractedly weaving down the highway while chatting or surfing.