As a pedestrian, you have a broad view of your environment. Not much impairs your ability to see.
However, it’s the complete opposite for a heavy vehicle operator. Trucks are indeed the biggest vehicles on the road but truck drivers are also afflicted by the largest blind spots of all vehicles!
Winter is coming and soon a lot of large service vehicles will be hitting the roads. Think of snowploughs, sanders, snow removers, snow blowers and numerous other heavy vehicles working hard so that you can use the road system safely. Unfortunately, every year, more than thirty pedestrians are killed in Canada after being hit by one of these hard-working vehicles.
How to Be Seen?
Keep this in mind: If you don’t see the vehicle operator, he doesn’t see you!
Before stepping in front of one of these tall vehicles, make eye contact with the operator.
​Avoid walking too close to the front of them. In most cases, their hoods are much higher than a pedestrian. As a result, you’d be invisible to the operator! Avoid at all costs remaining too long next or behind a heavy vehicle: these are areas where the operators can hardly see you, especially in the rain or in darkness.
For more information and also for a demonstration of how bicyclists and pedestrians can vanish in a truck driver’s blind spot, click on: https://saaq.gouv.qc.ca/securite-routiere/comportements/angles-morts/visibilite-presence-vehicule-lourd/
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