Opinion: A Dangerous Place to Hide

This Opinion piece appears in the Dec. 9 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

By Peter Evans

Vice President of Sales and Marketing

Preco Electronics Inc.

It’s that time of the year again. The roads are filled with people hurrying to their holiday travel destinations and parties and trying to get gifts purchased. But while smart phones have given drivers the ability to keep their offices and friends with them during this time, it’s too bad the phones aren’t smart enough to stop people from making some very stupid choices.

In fact, during this rushed holiday season, truck drivers’ jobs have gotten even tougher as they are being forced too often into a dangerous game of hide and seek.

Although I’m not a truck driver myself, my job includes talking with drivers frequently, and I’m sorry to say that one version or another of the story below has been told to me over the past year by more drivers than I care to mention. One recounting of these events and I would have ignored it. However, the number of stories I’ve heard makes me wonder if there is a truly dangerous trend taking place.

As we all know, texting while driving is being banned by more and more states. The laws vary by state, with some requiring hands-free cellphone use as well. I personally believe this is a wonderful step in improving the safety of our roads.

Unfortunately, these laws appear to have produced a terrifying side effect: Drivers of smaller vehicles, determined to text on the highway no matter what, are deliberately using an 18-wheeler’s blind spot as a dangerous new place to hide from the police while busy with their cellphones.

Here’s just one of the many stories about this new phenomenon that was told to me by one professional truck driver: He is traveling on the freeway at 65 mph. He moves to the passing lane to allow a car to merge onto the freeway. Before he has a chance to move back he notices a car in the distance speeding in toward his blind spot.

He assumes that person is getting ready to take the next exit, so he remains in the passing lane. After the exit, he looks in his side mirror, and all appears to be clear. He turns on his blinker and looks again, and all still appears to be clear through the mirror. But he doesn’t recall seeing the car that had speeded into his blind spot leave it. Just to be sure, he angles himself so he can get a better view of the lane and discovers that a young woman in her teens or early 20s is keeping pace with him — while texting.

She stays put for the next four or so exits until our truck driver comes upon a two-lane exit. The young woman stays in the lane to take the required exit, so the trucker decides to exit as well to let her know that drivers in semis can’t see her if she can’t see them through the mirrors.

She stops at a gas station and the semi driver gets out and explains the safety concerns to her, mentioning that what she’s doing isn’t legal in this particular state. She says she is aware of the rule, but she needed to reply to some texts, and if she hides beside the semi, the police can’t see her texting.

The driver then asks her if she realizes how dangerous that is and if the text is really worth the risk. She replies that her reflexes are so much better than most drivers’ that she doesn’t need to worry about accidents.

As the driver tells the story, “She looked at me as if I was some lunatic overreacting to something so silly.”

The texter finished by telling the trucker that he obviously could see her because he knew how long she’d been in his so-called blind spot.

The driver thought it was best at this point to walk away, shaking his head over the complete ignorance of some people he must share the road with daily.

The above is one example of the stories I’ve heard about drivers pulling into a semi’s blind spot to illegally text, make phone calls or read e-mails on smart phones. The stories I’ve heard to date generally include teens to early 30s, kids to professionals, and both men and women.

One of the most creative suggestions I’ve received is to sound an air horn nonstop in the direction of an offending vehicle that hangs in that zone for longer than three or four seconds. The theory is that it will be too loud to make calls, and the people texting will get tired of the sound and move along. I think he was joking, but you never know.

Although I truly hope these stories are anomalies, I fear they are becoming the norm. After hearing some of them, I began my own semi-watch while driving. I couldn’t help but notice there are a number of people who speed up just to stay in the newly popular hiding spot to conduct business that is apparently more important than their own lives and the innocent lives they are putting in danger.

If you know of drivers who might do this, please take the time to educate them on the dangers of this practice. Let’s do what we can to make our roads a safer place, through the holiday season and beyond.

Founded in 1947 and based in Boise, Idaho, Preco Electronics Inc. provides fleet managers, equipment operators and the heavy-equipment industry with blind-spot safety systems.