Pass the truck, or drop back behind it

You have probably spent a long stretch beside a big truck without thinking about it: matching its speed in the next lane, its trailer wheels a few feet from your door, waiting for a gap. That stretch is the part of the journey this page is about.

Spend as little time beside a big truck as you can: pass it steadily or drop back behind it, and after you pass, move back in only when you can see the whole front of the truck in your mirror.

Do not stay beside it

Many people give the same rule and the same test: never linger alongside a truck, because you are in its blind spot, and if you cannot see the driver’s mirrors, the driver cannot see you. The road authorities put it in their own words. New York’s driver’s manual says large vehicles have deep blind spots behind them and much larger ones on both sides than cars do, and that even if the driver knows you are there, staying next to the truck makes it hard for them to avoid danger. The UK Highway Code adds that close behind is no better: if you are following a bus or lorry, the driver may not be able to see you in the mirrors.

The second reason is the tyres. Some people warn against riding beside a truck’s rear wheels, and truck drivers in them agree: a tyre under that much pressure can fail with real force, and others describe heavy chunks of tread flying across lanes and a truck pulling hard to one side when a tyre goes. One person first wrote that a blowout beside you means certain death, then corrected themselves: the force is serious, but there are many variables, and you may or may not be hurt. Either way, the time you spend beside those wheels is time you are exposed.

So pass with purpose. Some people say to pass a truck decisively rather than creeping past its trailer, and one person describes the trap to avoid — drivers glancing at a phone mid-pass and ending up stranded beside the truck for a long stretch. If you cannot pass cleanly, drop back until you can see its mirrors again. How to pass in every road layout is not something this page covers.

In front of it

A truck cannot stop the way your car can, and some people warn against pulling in close in front of one. New York’s manual gives the numbers: at 55 miles an hour, a car needs about 193 feet to stop and a tractor-trailer needs 256 to 430. When you cut in close and then brake, you have taken that distance away from the driver behind you. The manual’s rule for passing is the one in the bold line above: make sure you can see the whole front of the truck before you return to its lane — one person here says the same thing as “both headlights”. Long-nosed trucks can also have a blind spot about 20 feet deep in front of them, the manual adds.

Some people add a merging version. When a line of cars is waiting to get past a slow truck, darting into the gap in front of it is dangerous as well as rude, and one person explains why: it starts a chain reaction of braking and tailgating behind the truck that can end in a wreck. Keeping a steady, predictable speed does more for everyone than a sudden courtesy; the page called Predictable is the kindest thing a driver can be is about that.

Behind it

Behind a truck is the safer place to be, and the rule there is room. The UK Highway Code says pulling back from a large vehicle lets you see and plan ahead; one person says the same of all traffic, and box trucks especially. Stopped behind a truck at a light, leave space, New York’s manual says, especially facing uphill: a truck can roll back slightly when it moves off.

Trucks also turn wide. They swing left before turning right, the New York manual warns (in the UK, where traffic keeps left, the swing is the other way), and the UK code says be prepared to stop and wait while a large vehicle takes the room it needs to turn. People split on the edge of that: one person says stop and give a turning truck room, others say never stop in a flowing lane or a roundabout to wave one through, because the car behind you does not expect it. Both fit. Wait behind the line when a truck needs the road to finish a turn; do not stop where the drivers behind you do not expect it.

Two small habits come from the truck drivers themselves. Some people note that truckers pass warnings about closures and hazards to each other by radio, so a line of trucks moving out of a lane early can mean a blocked lane ahead — though one person says fewer drivers use those radios than used to. And some people describe how truck drivers talk with their lights: a flick of the hazards to say thank you, or that you are clear to move back in. One trucker asks that you switch your headlights off and on to tell a truck it is clear, rather than flashing full beam, which blinds them; the meaning of a flash also changes from country to country, one person notes, and in the UK the Highway Code says to flash your headlights only to let another road user know you are there, not to send any other message. The page called If they flash you, check your own lights first covers what flashes mean.

The moving truck in the next lane

Some people single out rented moving trucks, and the reason they give is the driver. The person driving it may be doing so for the first time, and others add the rest: tired from a long drive, stressed, in something much wider, taller and slower to stop than their own car. They may change lanes without signalling, forget the mirrors, or misjudge how long the truck takes to stop. So give a moving truck the extra room you would give any learner, and do not cut in front of it. Some people say professional truck drivers are, on the whole, more skilled than someone in a rental; one person answers that plenty of professionals are not careful either, and another cautions against assuming every rental driver is hopeless, because the assumption can turn into aggression of your own. The size is the danger whoever is driving.

Who this page is not for

If you ride a motorcycle, this page is written from inside a car, and the risks and the technique are different, and this page does not cover them. If you drive trucks for a living, you know this from the other seat, and one person says the road asks things of you too: check the blind spots, and do not expect the road to revolve around the truck. And if you are the one behind the wheel of a rented moving truck tomorrow, the third question below is for you.