As the driver of a commercial motor vehicle, it’s essential that you learn proper truck driver safety tips. According to Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, traffic accidents involving large trucks kill more than 5000 people and injure nearly 150,000 more every year in the United States. Ninety-eight percent of the fatalities in accidents involving both passenger vehicles and big rigs are occupants of the passenger vehicles. That means your safety practices in dedicated trucking not only protect you, but everyone else driving alongside you.

According to SmartMotorist.com, driver fatigue is a major cause of road crashes. The problem can be ten times worse at night than during the day, though plenty of accidents caused by fatigued driving take place during the morning and afternoon. Fatigue causes drivers to make critical driving errors or even fall asleep behind the wheel. Therefore, it is especially important for drivers who navigate long stretches on monotonous freeways to heed truck driver safety tips.

Symptoms of fatigue while driving include daydreaming, frequent yawning, and difficulty keeping your eyes open, swerving out of your lane, varying the vehicle’s speed unintentionally, misjudging traffic situations, and imagining things “jump out” on the road. If you notice any of these symptoms, follow proper truck driver safety tips and pull over for a break.

Fatigue can affect driving long before you even realize you’re tired. That’s why CSA includes a section for hours-of-service to ensure that drivers are not behind the wheel for hours on end without sleep just to make a deadline. A study conducted by the Adelaide Centre for Sleep Research shows that drivers who force themselves to stay awake for 24 hours are just as likely to cause an accident as someone who is drunk behind the wheel. Fortunately, by heeding truck driver safety tips, you can avoid fatigued driving and keep the roads safer for everyone.

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