BLIND SPOT INFORMATION
Awareness of Blind Spots is very topical at the moment, with a lot of focus being applied by institutions such as Bicycle NSW, and Transurban, who have made this subject a major focus of their website.
Transurban research reveals that drivers are taking unnecessary risks when driving around trucks, with many people unaware when they’re in a truck’s blind spot.
Due to their length and height, large trucks have blind spots immediately in front of them, directly behind, beside the driver door and a significant area on the passenger side. Alarmingly, only 4% of drivers from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane were able to correctly identify all truck blind spots, while 81% could identify at least one blind spot.
There is particularly low awareness of blind spots located in front of trucks, with only 20-24% of people understanding that truck drivers can’t see them when they’re travelling in these zones. Perhaps as a result of this, feelings of safety when driving around heavy vehicles are mixed, with 41% of drivers reporting feeling unsafe when driving around large trucks.
