As a truck driver, you’re going to have to go through some pretty tricky driving areas. One of the most common ones tends to be construction zones. While they can seem pretty difficult at first, some key tips can help you navigate these spaces with a little more ease…
Construction Zones: Staying Safe
Keep your eyes peeled
When entering construction zones, you’ll have a lot of things grabbing your attention. There will be signs, other cars, and of course the workers themselves. As a result, it’s important to keep your eyes focused on these things instead of other potential distractions.
Posted signs can help give you a heads up of what to expect when driving through the work zone. This might be things like single lanes, or “flaggers” who will be directing traffic. Plus, the other cars on the road will have to make adjustments as well. That’s why it’s much safer to keep your eyes on the road instead of anywhere else.
Play it safe
Construction zones are not the place where you want to be aggressive. Trying to be a bit risky in your driving might make you think you’ll get out of there faster, but it just makes things very unsafe. In fact, two common causes of accidents are truckers not merging until it’s too late, and not giving enough following space.
Most work zones post signs well in advance to give you and other drivers a heads up about the road ahead. When you see these signs, it’s best to start making your adjustments. For example, if the lane you’re in will be closed, try to get over into an open one now instead of later. These lanes can get pretty narrow too, so give the other drivers plenty of space.
Patience, patience, patience
Construction zones, and the traffic they create, can be frustrating to sit through. However, it’s not worth getting upset over something out of your control. Instead, patience really is a virtue when travelling through these zones. Relax, put on some of your favorite songs, and remember it’s better to get to your stop safely than not at all.