8 RV safety tips for sharing the road with trucks

As an RV driver, you’ll be sharing the roads with all sorts of other vehicles, including trucks. Here’s what RV drivers can do when sharing the road with truckies to help ensure that we all get home safely to our families.  

#1. Know a truck driver’s blind spots

Trucks may have larger mirrors and be higher off the road than you in your RV, but that doesn’t mean the driver has a better view of what’s going on around them. In fact, trucks have much larger blind spots than regular vehicles and RVs. We recently had the opportunity to climb up into a truck and experience first-hand just how much visibility a truck driver doesn’t have. You can see it for yourself on Episode 1 of Are You RV Safe? at 12:30 pm, 7th September 2024 on Channel 10. These blind spots are something that all RV drivers – and any driver for that matter – should have a healthy respect for.

There are four main blind spots for truck drivers. The first two are obvious, these are:

• Immediately in front of the truck
• Directly behind the truck

The other two are less obvious until you actually sit in a truck and experience it first-hand. These are:

• Beside the driver’s door
• On the passenger side, from the door extending out across three lanes across the length of the truck

Truck drivers rely heavily on their side mirrors to see what’s going on around them, so if you can’t see a truck’s mirrors, you are most likely in a blind spot, and there’s a good chance the driver doesn’t know you’re there.

#2. Don’t pull out or squeeze in front of a truck

Truck drivers try to leave a nice large gap in front of them as, given their size and weight, they can’t slow to a stop in the same manner as a standard vehicle. In suburban areas, if you were to squeeze into that safety gap with your RV when approaching traffic lights as you navigate which lane will get you there quickest, you will most likely find yourself directly in front of the truck. Yep, that’s right, in its blind spot and in the truck’s safety gap for slowing down.

If you’re in a rural area and pull out onto the highway after, say, filling up with fuel, it’s possible that the oncoming truck you pulled in front of will not be able to break in time to allow you to come up to the 100 km/hour it is most likely travelling at. It’s better to be patient and wait for the truck to pass. After all, the truck driver is on a tight schedule, and you’re on holiday. 

#3. Use your UHF to communicate with truck drivers

Communication is key to sharing the road safely with truck drivers. Get yourself a UHF and learn how to communicate with not only truckies but other RVs in your convoy. More information on how to communicate with both trucks and RVs via UHF can be found in the RVSafe handbook, which you can get sent to your email for free by completing the form below.

Channel 40 is the road safety channel Australia-wide and is used mainly by truckies and heavy vehicles. So, by tuning into this channel, you can use it to communicate with truck drivers, assist them in overtaking you, and get a pre-warning of any upcoming hazards. Flick to channel 18 to communicate with other RVs in your convoy.

#4. Spread out your RV convoy

If you’re travelling in a convoy with other RVs, keep your distance from each other to allow trucks and other vehicles room to overtake you one at a time. If you’re all too close together, it will be impossible for anyone to overtake you safely, let alone a truck. 

#5. Respect the ‘trucks only’ rest areas

Truckies are required to stop and rest by law, so if you’re in an RV, you can’t use the ‘trucks only’ rest areas to camp. If you’re in a shared rest stop, be considerate and leave space for the trucks to park.   

As regular drivers of these roads, truck drivers will have planned their trip to arrive at a certain time at a particular truck rest stop to stay within the legal driving periods and get to their delivery point on time. So yes, they will understandably be quite upset to find an RV parked in the middle of their stopping bay. 

#6. Do not overtake turning trucks

All trucks will have a “do not overtake turning vehicle” sign on the back of their rig. It’s not just for show and its the law to obey this sign. The reason for this sign is that most larger vehicles (including large RVs) need to encroach into the second lane when turning or maneuvering roundabouts. If you’re in that lane when they do so, well ….that’s a recipe for disaster. 

#7. Don’t overtake a road train in your RV

Think about it, if that road train is going 90 km/h and you are doing 100 km/h, if you decide you need to overtake, you could be on the wrong side of the road for up to two kilometres before you actually get around it. This is akin to playing Russian roulette. If it’s really bothering you, pull over for a cuppa, and give it time to get a long way in front.

#8. Make it easy for truckies to overtake you

Keep an eye on what’s going on behind you. If there are a number of trucks queuing up behind you, look for a safe opportunity to pull over and allow the faster traffic to pass. When a truck does overtake you, don’t slow down until they are already beside you, then it is safe to ease off the accelerator a little to allow them to pass you more quickly. 

If you have a CB radio, you can use it to let the overtaking truck driver know when they’re a safe enough distance in front to move back into your lane. 

Where to find more information  

To learn more about using UHF to communicate with trucks and other RV drivers and see what a truck driver sees from their viewpoint in the cab, tune into Channel 10 on Saturday, September 7th, 2024, at 12:30 p.m. to catch the first episode of Are You RV Safe?. 

In addition, make sure to get your free RVSafe Handbook to ensure you’re doing the best you can to keep yourself and your family safe.

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