With more and more trucking companies opting to equip their commercial trucks with the latest surveillance technology, you might breathe a little easier as you approach a large truck on a Texas highway. However, you should not let down your guard. You do not know if that truck has the necessary tech to spot you if you end up in the truck’s blind spot, plus a truck’s surveillance system might contain blind spots of its own.
Truckinginfo.com explains that many trucking surveillance systems are designed to take in specific input and if necessary, perform corrective actions. However, these systems are not comprehensive. You will have cameras intended to monitor the performance of the truck driver, but not necessarily the outside of the truck. Some systems will alert the driver if the truck is weaving out of a lane. Others may go a step further and intervene to keep the truck steady.
Even trucks that possess cameras will have varying degrees of oversight. Some trucks will have cameras that take in the view ahead of the truck. Other vehicles may have cameras that face forward and also to the driver. You will also have trucks with cameras that can see to the sides of the vehicle and behind it. Trucks may possess any combination of these options.
The problem with these variations is that you cannot be certain what kind of sensory equipment a truck will have as you approach one. If the vehicle does not have rear or side cameras mounted, the driver will probably not detect you if you drive into a blind spot. And while camera technology continues to improve, there is still a chance that a truck’s cameras might not capture enough field of vision to see you, or that the darkness of the evening hours might diminish the vision of the camera.
The bottom line is that, despite the evolution of surveillance and tracking technology used on trucks, driving defensively is still the best option while sharing a road with a commercial truck. Since there are many ways a truck accident can occur, you should not read this article as legal advice. It is only intended to give you education on truck accident topics.
