Large vehicles — Kentucky Permit Test

The Kentucky no zone is the area around large trucks or buses where vehicles disappear from the commercial driver's view into blind spots, on the sides, rear and front.

A driver sitting in the no zone is invisible to the one machine that cannot stop for them.

The no zone is the area around large trucks or buses where vehicles disappear from the commercial driver’s view into blind spots.

If a Kentucky driver cannot see a large vehicle driver's face in the side view mirror, that driver cannot see them.

It is the simplest test there is, and it works from either side.

If you cannot see the driver’s face in the side view mirror, he or she cannot see you.

A loaded Kentucky truck with good tires and properly adjusted brakes, under ideal conditions at 55 mph, requires at least 335 feet to stop, more than one and a half times the stopping distance of a car.

Cutting in front of a truck takes away the road it needs to stop in.

A loaded truck with good tires and properly adjusted brakes, under ideal conditions, traveling at 55 mph requires at least 335 feet before coming to a complete stop

Kentucky large vehicles have huge blind spots directly behind them that extend up to 200 feet.

Two hundred feet behind a truck is a place where neither driver can see anything.

Unlike cars, large vehicles have huge blind spots directly behind them that extend up to 200 feet.

Kentucky large vehicles traveling up or down steep hills must drive slowly, at approximately 35 mph, and use the right lane, so a driver should avoid the right lane on hills.

A truck at thirty-five in a seventy-mile-an-hour lane is a wall that appears suddenly.

When traveling up or down steep hills, large vehicles must drive slowly, approximately 35 mph and therefore use the right lane.

When a Kentucky truck or bus needs to make a right turn the driver may swing wide to the left, so a driver who tries to get between the vehicle and the curb will be squeezed.

The gap that opens on the inside of a turning truck closes again as the trailer comes round.

If you try to get in between the truck or bus and the curb, you will be squeezed in between the vehicle and could suffer a serious crash.

A Kentucky driver meeting a truck coming the opposite way keeps as far as possible to the right side of the roadway, to avoid a side-swept crash and reduce the wind turbulence between the two vehicles.

The air between two vehicles passing at speed pushes them apart and then together.

When you meet a truck coming from the opposite direction, keep as far as possible to the right side of the roadway to avoid a side-swept crash and to reduce the wind turbulence between the two vehicles

Kentucky escape or runaway ramps on long downgrades are for use only by large vehicles that are out of control or cannot stop because of brake failure, and a driver should never stop or park near them.

A truck arriving at a runaway ramp cannot steer around anything parked in it.

These ramps are for use only by large vehicles that are out of control or cannot stop because of brake failure.

A Kentucky driver stopped behind a truck on an upgrade should stay to the left of their lane where the driver can see them, and allow extra space in case the truck drifts backwards.

A heavy truck rolls back a foot or two before it pulls away.

When stopped behind a truck on an upgrade, stay to the left of your lane where the driver can see you.

Kentucky vehicles carrying hazardous materials must stop at all railroad crossings and are clearly marked with the type of material they carry.

A truck that stops at every crossing is one the driver behind has to expect to stop.

Vehicles carrying hazardous materials must stop at all railroad crossings.

More than 250,000 crashes occur between cars and Kentucky commercial vehicles each year.

The figure is there to make the point that these crashes are common rather than rare.

More than 250,000 crashes occur between cars and commercial vehicles each year.

What is the Kentucky no zone?

The area around a large vehicle where it cannot see other traffic. A driver sitting in the no zone is invisible to the one machine that cannot stop for them. Kentucky Driver Manual, p.63: “The no zone is the area around large trucks or buses where vehicles disappear from the commercial driver’s view into blind spots.”