Following a Truck on the Highway at Dusk
It is just after sunset and you are driving on a straight highway with one lane in each direction. You are behind a large flatbed truck carrying unsecured timber. The truck is travelling at about 70 km/h and you are about 15 metres behind it, which feels comfortable because you can see its lights. The light is fading and you have not yet switched on your headlights. The truck's load overhangs the rear by roughly a metre, and some of the timber is protruding sideways. There is no street lighting. A car behind you is also close. You want to overtake but the road ahead curves gently to the right and you cannot see far past the truck.
1. Assess your following distance and lighting. What should change immediately?
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At 70 km/h you cover about 19 metres every second. A 15-metre gap is under one second of following time, well short of the two-second minimum in good conditions, and conditions here are poor: dusk, no street lighting, and a truck with an overhanging, partly insecure load. You should:
- Switch on your headlights now. Dusk is exactly when lights make you visible to others, even if you can still see without them.
- Drop back to at least a two-second gap, and more like three or four seconds, so you have time to react if timber falls.
- Move slightly within your lane, where safe, so you are not directly in line with the overhang.
A close gap behind a loaded truck gives you no room to stop if the load shifts.
2. Should you overtake now? Explain your decision.
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No, not yet. Overtaking requires that you can see far enough ahead to complete the manoeuvre and return safely, and the gentle right-hand curve plus the truck's size block your view of oncoming traffic. The car close behind you adds pressure but does not create a safe gap. Wait until the road straightens, you have a clear view of oncoming traffic for a good distance, and you can see that no one is already overtaking. Then signal, check mirrors and blind spot, move out, pass briskly, and do not cut back in until you can see the truck's headlights in your mirror. If the car behind is impatient, let it go; do not be pushed into a blind overtake.
3. The truck's timber starts to shift. What defensive plan should you already have?
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Assume the worst: an unsecured load can fall. Your plan should be:
- Keep the larger following gap so a falling piece gives you time to brake.
- Know what is behind and beside you before you need to swerve; check mirrors regularly.
- If a piece falls, brake firmly in a straight line rather than swerving blindly into oncoming traffic, and use hazard lights to warn the car behind.
- Do not try to retrieve debris from a live lane; stop only where it is safe and report it.
Defensive driving means choosing the gap and the lane position that leave you an escape route before the emergency happens.