Greetings fellow drivers. This not an NRMA advertisement, and my name is not Wallace Fairweather!
Welcome to yet another spiel from the burnt out truckie.
The topic of this message is visibility or, can you see and can you be seen?! I am sure most of you have tried to follow a semi in the driving rain, and had difficulty seeing. Due to the spray from his wheels, and the general road conditions, all you can see is water, water, everywhere and not a thing to see.
Let me tell you what the truckie can see behind him! One word just about sums it up..... spray!!! Even with the mirror heaters going, it is sometimes almost impossible to see behind you. This is why so many of us have our headlights/parkers on. You can't actually see the trailer, but you can see the clearance lights!
There are some who would argue that all trucks should just stop in inclement weather to allow for more ordinary motorists to travel without having to deal with the spray. Sounds good in theory, huh?
If you were the customer, sweating on a load of perishables, how would you react to such a lame excuse? How do you react when there are no goods on the supermarket shelf or at the local shop? Enough said?
What you do, in effect as a truckie, is increase your margin of safety.
Still and all, it is not the easiest manoeuvre under such conditions.
How can you, Joe Blow Motorist, assist? Turn your headlights (not parkers) on. You can immediately be seen! It is that simple.
I work on the rule of thumb (when I am in my car) that if I can't see the truckie's face in his mirrors, then it is a safe bet that he cannot see me! I actually disagree with these signs you see on the backs of trucks that say "If you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you". Seeing the mirrors is one thing, seeing his or her face is another. Remember you can see the mirror from beside a truck! That does not mean it is focussed where you're positioned. It follows from this that you don't put yourself in a position that you're unsighted for any length of time. This is when you're overtaking, when you're in the rain and spray or in any other circumstance.
In the spray, he will see you - if you have your lights on.
Just a little "inside" info here.
Many people wonder why trucks sometimes appear to carry on regardless in the rain and fog. The answer is not that hard to comprehend. Forward visibility in a truck is vastly better than it is in your car. Whether it is the height above ground, or the angle of incidence of their headlights, I don't know, but I am here to tell you that it is 100% true!
They are also far less liable to aquaplane, believe it or not!
Some people think that it is a good
idea to use their headlights of a daytime. I reckon it is, particularly if your vehicle is dark. Now
some people also think that they are more visible if they have fog lights, driving lights and
every other damned
light that they can illuminate blazing away like there is no tomorrow!
Did these people ever think that, even in the daylight, they may be hurting
the eyes of all other road users? If you think it isn't a problem, then
think again. Try looking directly into your own car's driving lights in
the middle of the day and see how long you can stand it. Just because old SOL , up there, is shining brightly,
don't think that your lights are miraculously, not painful. The Sun isn't a light
sucker!