Sharing with trucks — Georgia Permit Test

Heavy trucks in Georgia typically weigh 80,000 pounds or more, and the manual tells a driver to use caution near them for that reason.

Weight is what decides how long anything takes to stop, and a truck has twenty times yours.

Heavy trucks typically weigh 80,000 pounds or more, and drivers should use caution when driving near them.

A fully loaded tractor-trailer at 55 mph needs 3 times the distance a car needs to stop.

Cutting in front of a truck takes away the gap the driver built up and cannot get back quickly.

A fully loaded tractor-trailer, traveling 55 mph, needs 3 times the distance a car needs to stop

The side No-Zones of a truck or a bus are far larger than a car’s blind spots, and the rule is that if you cannot see the driver’s face in their mirror, they cannot see you.

The mirror is the only way that driver has of knowing you are there at all.

If you cannot see the driver's face in the side-view mirror, the driver cannot see you. The right side No-Zone is particularly dangerous because truck and bus drivers must make wide right turns.

Trucks and buses have a huge No-Zone directly behind them and no rear view mirror, so the driver cannot see a car there and that car cannot see the road ahead either.

Sitting behind a trailer means you are both blind, and whichever of you brakes first surprises the other.

Unlike cars, trucks and buses have huge No-Zones directly behind them. Trucks and buses have no rear view mirror.

To stay out of the front No-Zone, Georgia says to make sure you can see the entire front of the truck or bus in your rear-view mirror before you merge or pull into its lane.

Cutting in and then slowing is the one move a truck cannot answer, because it cannot stop that fast.

To avoid the Front No-Zone, make sure that you can see the entire front of the truck or bus in your rear-view mirror before you merge or pull into that lane of traffic.

Georgia recommends one car length of gap for every 10 miles per hour of speed when you are near a commercial motor vehicle.

The faster you are going the longer everything takes, so the gap has to grow with the speed.

Don't cut off commercial motor vehicles. For safety, one car length for every 10 miles per hour of speed is recommended

How much does Georgia say a heavy truck typically weighs?

80,000 pounds or more. Weight is what decides how long anything takes to stop, and a truck has twenty times yours. Georgia Driver's Manual, p.124: “Heavy trucks typically weigh 80,000 pounds or more, and drivers should use caution when driving near them.”