The residents of Kentucky have to share the road with truckers who are responsible for hauling a large volume of this country’s products and equipment from one place to another.
They should of course follow traffic laws, drive carefully, and, generally speaking, take account of the special challenges truck drivers face when operating such large vehicles.
However, it is ultimately the truck driver’s responsibility to make sure that he or she can operate his or her vehicle safely, and this includes being able to safely stop the truck in the event of an emergency.
More specifically, a trucker needs to bear in mind that, when fully loaded and heading down one of Kentucky’s roads at 65 miles per hour, or even at a slightly higher speed, they will need about 450 feet, the length of one full football field and then half of another, before being able to come to a complete stop. This distance assumes the trucker is able to apply the brakes full force, which may not be possible to do safely.
To account for this, truckers need to leave plenty of space between their own vehicle and the vehicle immediately ahead of it. Moreover, they also need to make sure that they have 100 percent attention on the road at all times, as they simply cannot afford to delay applying the brakes in the event of a sudden change in the conditions ahead of them. Slowing down also helps tremendously.
To prevent rear-end truck accidents, a trucker in Kentucky has the important responsibility to driver at a reasonable speed and to make sure they maintain a safe following distance, which could be quite a bit greater than a safe following distance for a car. If they fail to do so, a Kentucky resident injured as a result can pursue compensation.
