Lansing - Max Menchaca stopped at a Lansing truck stop off Interstate 96 for a cup of coffee before heading back to Texas.
During the more than 20-hour drive ahead of him, Menchaca and his Freightliner truck are sure to encounter some rude drivers on the long stretches of highway they travel together.
And according to a AAA study, professional truck drivers such as Menchaca aren’t usually the ones at risk, or at fault, in car-truck collisions. The study showed passenger-vehicle drivers account for nearly 98 percent of car-truck fatalities, and 75 percent of those were driving dangerously.
Passenger vehicles include most four wheeled transportation - cars, trucks, minivans and sport utility vehicles
“It goes beyond common courtesy,” Menchaca said. “It’s about common sense.”
Menchaca recommended drivers not linger directly behind or next to trucks, since truck drivers cannot see the smaller vehicles in their mirrors and the situation could be dangerous. He also said tailgating was a regular frustration, as were impatient drivers.
“It takes us a long time to go from low speeds to high speeds,” he said. “Be patient with us.”
Menchaca’s advice was right on target with precautions offered by AAA.
Five dangerous driving behaviors are the cause of 64 percent of car-truck collisions, AAA spokesman Mantill Williams said.
“Car drivers really have control over their destiny,” he said. “They’re not just helpless victims.”
To prove accidents involving automobiles and trucks can be prevented, AAA has relaunched its “Share With Care” program to the association’s 45 million members nationwide.
“We think education is key,” he said. “The things we’re asking people do to are relatively simple and can contribute significantly to safety.”
But some factors are out of drivers control.
Trucks can weigh up to 80,000 pounds whereas most average cars don’t exceed 3,000 pounds.
“When a car collides with a truck, most likely the car driver is going to get hurt,” Williams said.
Size isn’t the only thing separating commercial trucks from passenger vehicles. Refilling the fuel to his 18-wheeler, Royce Thacker said the speed gap often causes problems between cars and trucks. The speed limit on Michigan’s highways for regular passenger vehicles is 70 mph, but trucks must travel at 55 mph.
“Besides that, it’s just about courtesy,” the Jackson resident said.
“We’ve got some rude drivers out here, but everybody’s guilty of it, including me.”
