How to Avoid Tailgating With Your Commercial Truck

The practice of tailgating other vehicles, where you follow them at a very short distance, is something that commercial truck drivers must avoid at all costs. Tailgating while you’re driving a massive rig that weighs thousands of pounds can lead to a serious accident that results in property damage, injury, or even death. While tailgating might seem like it’s not a big deal, you’ll need to be on your guard by following these tips to keep yourself and other drivers safe.

Avoidance Is Difficult

Truck drivers are encouraged to leave a large following distance between the front of their truck and the rear of the vehicle ahead of them. This space usually amounts to several seconds’ worth of driving time. 

While this is easy enough to achieve on a long, flat stretch of roadway, it’s significantly harder to avoid when you’re traveling into a congested urban area on crowded highways. You will find yourself having to slow down and monitor the traffic around you to maintain a sufficient distance.

Also, you may think that you’re leaving enough space between yourself and other vehicles, but it may not actually be enough to safely brake your truck in an emergency. So it’s best to err on the side of leaving too much space, rather than too little.

Watch For Changing Road Conditions

Increased traffic, road construction, bad weather, and even the sun going down are all conditions that will change how you drive and require you to increase your following distance even more. 

Other Drivers WIll Vex You

Finally, you’ll need to be mindful of careless car and small truck drivers who either try to “draft” by following your truck closely (by using the low-pressure area behind your large truck, smaller vehicles can lower their fuel consumption), but this is a dangerous practice. You’ll also need to avoid following other truckers in a convoy formation because you’ll end up being too close to one another.

Come see us at our Florida dealership location in Sanford today to check out our wide stock of new and used commercial trucks for sale. DeBary Truck Sales proudly serves our customers in Jacksonville and Orlando, FL, and Atlanta, GA.