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Please turn down your high beams when coming up on a tractor trailer or any vehicle from any direction. It may make it easier for you to see, but it is blinding to our truckers and others. The lights reflect off the mirrors and large windshields of the trucks.

When sitting at an intersection and a tractor trailer is making a turn where he/she comes pretty much face to face with you and your vehicle, don't just sit there staring at them .... please back up and give them room to complete their turn. It is not just the tractor that needs to get around the corner, the trailer needs to make the corner also. Backing up will not cost anything more then a few extra minutes of your time.

Please do not tailgate or get up on the bumper of a tractor trailer (with or without the trailer). This is very dangerous. Remember! ... if you can not see the driver in his/her mirrors, they can not see you either. Keep a safe distance at all times.

"Always!" keep your eyes on the road. Truckers often go to rural areas, suburbs, down alleys and small norrow streets where they must deliver freight to docks that are set back in. This requires the truck to use the whole road to back in. Sometimes they are sitting cross ways across the roads blocking all lanes. You can not always see them until you are on top of them if the lighting is not good. Pay close attention to what is ahead of you. Be Alert!

When sitting at an intersection waiting to exit a parking lot etc. to enter a roadway "DO NOT!" pull out in front of or try to beat a tractor trailer. Make sure there is plenty of distance between you and the on coming tractor trailer before you enter the roadway. Once you are out there on the roadway don't hesitate. Keep moving with the flow of traffic. There is no place that you need to be that badly, that you can not wait a few extra seconds/minutes. Nothing is worth the truckers lives or your's. WAIT!"

When a tractor trailer isstopped on a hill or upgrade at a signal light or stop sign "DO NOT!" get right up on the bumper of the trailer. Give them room! Tractor trailers do sometimes coast backwards when pulling out from the signal light or stop sign on a hill/upgrade. If you have driven standard (stick shift) then you are familure with the coast back. It can and does happen. Again remember! If you can not see the driver in his/her mirrors, they can not see you!

If you are passing a tractor trailer do so quickly. "DO NOT!" get up along side the trailer and just hang there. Please after you pass make sure you have enough space between your vehicle and the tractor trailer before you cross back over in front of them (usually when you can see both head lights and the bumper of the tractor in your rear view mirror is a good rule to follow). Once in front of the tractor trailer maintain the speed limit. Don't cross over in front of a tractor trailer and then slow down. Tactor trailers can not stop on a dime. It takes a lot of extra distance for a tractor trailer to stop. Approx. five times as long for them to stop as it does a car.

Do not squeeze yourself up along the right hand side of a tractor trailer when it is stopped. Make sure to check the turn signals on the tractor and the trailer to determine what the drivers intentions are. There is a good chance that the driver of the tractor trailer will be making a right hand turn and will not see you or your car down along side him/her. (Known as blind spots ... You can learn about blind spots through the "NO ZONE" homepage. A very good educational page for truckers and people in cars). Sometimes tractor trailers take up both lanes to make a right hand turn. They need the extra room to make the turn. Be patient! You will get around the corner soon enough.

DO NOT! tailgate behind a tractor trailer while following them. You can not see what is ahead of the tractor trailer and if he/she has to hit their breaks quickly you will find yourself and your vehicle under that trailer. Follow at a safe distance to insure you, your family and our truck drivers are safe.

When merging into traffic from a onramp "CHECK!" your mirrors and look out your windows. DO NOT! always assume that a tractor trailer can and will move into the left hand lane to allow you to enter the highway. Most times they can not because there is another vehicle along side them. Be patient and give them time to go by. DO NOT! romp on the gas peddle and try to beat the tractor trailer if they appear to close. The risk is not worth it for you your family or the trucker.

Keep up with the flow of traffic when you merge into traffic "DO NOT!" slow down or lag once you are out there.Just because one tractor trailer went by does not mean there isn't another tractor trailer rolling up behind at a posted speed limit. Roll with the flow once you are out there in traffic! We love our elders and we love our travelers, but sometimes they can be extremely hazzardous on the highways for larger vehicles as well as cars. They tend to get into traffic and roll at speeds that are way below the posted speeds or the minimum allowed. This is very scarey for everyone on the highway, not just truckers and buses. I have seen some pretty close calls by cars approaching these slow vehicles as well. Turn the turn the turn signals off after you've made you entrance to the highway or after making a lane change.

TURN SIGNALS! Turn them off after you have completed your turn or lane change (cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles alike). Turn them on when making a lane change or exiting. Let other drivers know what your intentions are. Just because you know what you are doing does not mean others behind or coming towards you know what your intentions are. USE those turn signals so others can prepare for what you plan to do. That's what they are there for!

BREAK TEST! let's stop riding the breaks everyone. So many people ride down the highway with one foot on the gas and the other on the break. You speed up and everyone behind you follows, then you hit the breaks catching everyone behind you off guard. By riding the breaks like this, you are headed for a disaster because one day the vehicle behind you is not going to get stopped. Speaking of break testing. There was a radio station in N.J. that had a special guest giving advice to drivers about what to do when a tractor trailer is behind them. I can not imagine how anyone could call this guest speaker a professional. She suggested that when a tractor trailer is coming up on you from behind to slow down or hit the breaks.... believe me this advice is extremely dangerous and insane. REMEMBER! it's takes a tractor trailer fives times longer to stop, so the advice this guest speaker was offering could be dangerous to everyone's health and well being. This is not safe advice. The advice I would personally offer and suggest would be: I am in no way making excuses for the bad truck drivers. There truly are some really bad drivers out there. We need to all pull together to clean up our highways and remove not only bad truck drivers, but bad drivers period. Road Rage is uncalled for. Sure we all (those in trucks and cars alike) get frustrated and flustered, but that is no reason to attack another human being with your vehical or a weapon. We need to take a deep breath and count to ten and calm down. All of us! If you really feel that a driver has treated you badly on the road or is driving dangerously don't take matters into your own hands. There is no reason for name calling over C.B. radios, or running bumper to bumper, throwing high beams on them, laying on your horns and throwing signs at them to get even, or SLAMMING YOUR BREAKS ... take numbers down and report these bad drivers (those in cars and trucks alike). They will be dealt with. But above all make sure before you make that phone call that you find out or determine if the incident was intentional or accidental. This is a mans/womans job, it is how he/she feeds his/her family and pay their bills. We all make driving mistakes (honest driving mistakes) and we need to know the difference.

Truck Parking means just that. Truck parking. These spaces are not for cars and motor cycles. They are designed for tractor trailers and buses. Stay out of the truck/bus parking spaces. Your vehicle is small and if you get yourself in between two tractor trailers and another tries to squeeze in the spot you are in and does not see you, well the results could be pretty ugly. It upsets me greatly when I see someone parked in a spot designated for trucks/buses only. I'm the one who walks up to you and tells you what you are doing wrong. The same as many of you would do if someone were parked in a handicap space. Their marked for a reason. Another reason it concerns me about you taking our truckers parking spaces is because there is a nationwide shortage of truck parking out there. Our truckers and bus drivers need all that spaces that are made available to them. Please stay out of their parking spaces. A lot of places only permit two hour parking limits and because you have decided to take this spot some drivers are losing that two hour service. LET'S NOT FORCE A TIRED TRUCKER/BUS DRIVER back on the highway because you had the one parking space that belong to a truck/bus that could have made the difference.

GIVE ENOUGH ADVANCE NOTICE OF YOUR INTENTIONS: The following is a topic I can talk about forever because I feel we need to educate our children. Our student drivers are not being taught how to share the roads with tractor trailers and other motorist. They need to be educated about stopping distances, when to pull out, when to signal, tailgating and the list goes on. A few adults could also use a education on sharing the roads with tractor trailers to. We as parents need to work with our student drivers, as well as talk to school driving instructors to introduce into our student driver training programs important facts and safety tips about sharing the roads with tractor trailers and others. I was personally riding in the car with my son (teenager) home from the store one day along with my five year old son who was buckled in the back seat. My son who was driving, had to make a left hand turn to get us to the house. He had a tractor trailer behind him and we were rolling along at 55 m.p.h. in our tiny white mustang. My son started to slow down and then he turned his left hand signal on. I went into a panic instantly. Not out loud, but my heart rate increased and fear set in. I tried to stay calm when I said to my son, "And just what do you think you are going to do?" He said, "make a left hand turn." I said you aren't going to make a left hand turn. You did not give that truck driver behind you enough notice of what your intentions are and I am not going to let you do that to him. Now either you will fly into that left hand turn not slowing this car down anymore or you can continue forward and go farther down the road so you can let that poor man behind you know what your intentions are by signaling far enough in advance. You know I was more afraid for the truck driver behind us at the moment then I was about ourselves. I know you find that hard to believe, but it is the truth. We were now slowed down to 45 m.p.h. and had the trucker hit us who knows what the outcome would have been? I certinally don't like to think about it, but I have to. It could have been a very messy situation and in the end it would have been the truckers word against ours. Especially if the out come had been fatal. We need to give truck drivers enough notice of our intentions so they can prepare themselves. They have to down shift through many gears and it takes a lot to slow those big trucks down. I know you have heard it a million times "a truck can not stop on a dime," and it is true. Why put these men and woman in bad situations, when the situation can be avoided with education? I gladly share the above with you tips and advice on sharing the roads with tractor trailers. There are many good organizations out there who will gladly educate you and your children. The life we save by getting an education could be our own or that of a man or woman we know nothing about, known as "truck drivers."

Well it had to be added drivers. It's a sad fact that some drivers out there are in so much of a hurry that they are not leaving enough distance between themselves and othes ahead of them. I witnessed some pretty scarey moves by a few truckers out there this week, and if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed there was so many doing it, but it's true. One driver was following so closely that we could not even see the four wheeler in front of him. Just like yourselves the four wheelers need some advance notice of your intentions. And even if the four wheeler does let you know it's intentions how do you know you will be able to keep it under control when the time comes? I personally know that hair raising experience of trucks crawling up on your back and pushing you down the road from several years ago. I mean literally pushing me down the road. I could not see anything but his headlights. Couldn't see the bumper or anything. This driver was pushing me down the road at a speed of 85 m.p.h.. When we finally reached the four lane I was so thrilled and relieved that driver was long gone. I had to pull off the side of the road to regroup myself because I was shaking so badly. I had three small children in the back seat of my car which I know that driver could not see. I was driving a red firebird at the time going north on route #15 along the river. If you pass through here you know who you were at the time. I understand deadlines, meeting loading times etc., but again like I always stress to those who drive four wheelers "There is no place you have to be badly enough that you can't slow down" Take it easy drivers, back off ok. Face it if you don't back off the end results could be much worse then being a few minutes late for an appointment. Could be an accident, a fine, or the loss of your job. It's not worth it!

SCHOOL ZONES! SLOW DOWN! Pay attention to those flashing signals in school zones. This means everyone truckers, cars, buses and motorcylces alike. It does not please me to see someone flying through school zones any where. Those signs and signals are there for a reason ... DO THE SPEED 15-20-25 m.p.h. what ever it says DO IT! I do not take this lightly and have been known to take license numbers and report people. My children attend these schools and I want them safe! Slow Down!