Truck “No Zones” - Truck Blind Spots Explained
Large trucks, buses and the new giant homes on wheels are not the car driver’s friend. They have
large blind spots, they stop slowly and even if the driver sees well he cannot maneuver quickly to avoid an accident. Trucks when empty swerve with the wind and many truck drivers get licensed without much training. So what does this have to do with “No Zones”?
Well no zones are the blind spots that trucks have and most cars don’t. (I once had a Cadillac CTS-5 that was fast as can be but had more blind spots than any other car I had owned!) These large vehicles have no zones in the front, back and sides. You may technically have some “no zones” in a car but they don’t affect safety in the same way because they are so small (except the side ones of course).
Driver safety courses say that if you can’t see the driver in the mirror of the truck, the driver in the truck can’t see you. Now personally, I’m usually not close enough to see what is in a truck’s mirror but as a rule, it is still useful.
Estimates are just that - estimates but remember that truck drivers may have troubling seeing in front of their truck. 15-25 feet of the area directly in front can be blocked by the front/engine compartment of a truck. 25-35 feet behind the truck may be out of view of the mirrors. Depending upon many factors relating to the mirrors, sides of the truck will have blind spots as well. Good truck drivers keep track of cars as they are visible and then temporarily disappear. Not all truck drivers are “good” and all people can lose attention at times.
From a car accident lawyer’s point of view this blind spot/no zone question is one of caution. If a truck hits your car will the other attorney say that you should have been more careful because “everyone knows” that trucks have no zones or blind spots? This argument can be used to share liability meaning the truck company and you share the blame. At times this can make sense. If you are tailgating a truck and then quickly change lanes next to it you might be partly responsible if the truck switches lanes into you. Or so they will argue. We would argue that the truck should have signaled and that if it saw you close behind tailgating it should not have changed lanes until you were in sight. The arguments are endless but this underscores how critical it is to hire an excellent personal injury lawyer whenever you have had a serious accident.
Remember that truck drivers are responsible for ensuring these no-zones are clear before making any maneuvers however, defense lawyers will look to blame you as the injured driver. They can claim "last clear chance" or other defenses that put initial blame on the truck but then shift blame to you for the ultimate negative outcome.
For these reasons, if you are injured by a truck, contact an experienced truck accident attorney as soon as possible.
Daniel Horowitz is an experienced truck accident lawyer. He has recovered large sums for clients and their families (in wrongful cases). Call for assistance.