[HOW TO TURN A TRACTOR TRAILER AT ROUNDABOUTS & TRUCK APRONS]
Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you today about
roundabouts and truck aprons. The first time I encountered a roundabout in a big
truck was in Australia in 2002. I was working to get my license back so I could become
a commercial driver and unfortunately I kinda plowed into the roundabout. The
examiner, fortunately at the time--because nobody was hurt and there was
just a little bit of kerfuffle, and some hard braking on the part of other
traffic--kind of turned a blind eye and I was successful in getting my license
back in Australia. But I will tell you that roundabouts, whether you're in a car,
a light truck, or you're in a big truck, or any large vehicle is a bit of a learning
curve. But roundabouts are designed for big trucks. And truck aprons are
specifically for that purpose.
Unfortunately engineers have designed roundabouts for such purposes, but the
public education hasn't been there. People don't know about truck aprons.
So what we're going to do today, I'm going to talk to you about truck aprons.
We'll be right back with that information -
stick around.
[OPENING CREDITS & MUSIC]
Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart Drive Test - welcome back. I'm standing here at
a big industrial roundabout just south of Armstrong, B.C., Canada. Armstrong, BC is 4,
four-and-a-half hours northeast of Vancouver, British Columbia in the great
country of Canada. I'm talking to you today about roundabouts and truck aprons.
Roundabouts, are in fact, designed for big trucks, and the way that big trucks are
accommodated with their larger size and off-tracking is with truck aprons.
Engineers designed truck aprons, but unfortunately the information about
truck aprons has not been disseminated to the public for whatever reason.
There's a couple of engineering features that might cause people to be deceived
and commercial drivers to be deceived about why they can't use them. The first is that
it's colored, stamped concrete. In other words, it looks red from a distance and
it's also because it's stamped with a pattern that looks like a paving stone - when
in fact it is actually stamped, reinforced concrete designed to hold the
larger weight of big semi trucks.
The second thing about truck aprons is that they are slightly elevated and the
reason that they're slightly elevated is to try and keep cars and light trucks
off the truck apron, and cutting off a shorter distance through the roundabout.
So there's two features that may deceive drivers, especially drivers of larger
vehicles as to why in fact they can't go on the truck apron. But the truck aprons
are specifically designed for large commercial vehicles and are designed to
compensate for the off-tracking of the semi-trailer. Off-tracking is simply the
shorter path that the trailer tires take in relation to the steer tires. They take
a shorter path and therefore they're going to run up over the truck apron. You
can see here in the image that there's lots of black marks on the truck apron
in this industrial area where the semi-trailers have gone up over that the apron.
The other reason for truck aprons is is they're not only found at roundabouts - they're
also found at slip lanes. One of the things about turning trucks is that commercial drivers
need to minimize their impediment to other traffic. And truck aprons are
designed to do that
at both roundabouts and at slip lanes. And you can see here behind me
and I'll get you a better image of that of the slip lanes. The slip lanes also
have truck aprons for when the trucks are turning, they don't have to go out
into the other lane of traffic if there's multiple lanes that they're
merging onto. Thus they reduce their impediment to other traffic to try and
improve traffic flow through the intersection. So slip lanes are also
equipped with truck aprons to try and facilitate the movement of semi trucks
through the interesection and roundabouts. So truck aprons are designed to move larger vehicles
through roundabouts and minimize their impediment to other traffic. Now the news
story that prompted this video was a story out of Wisconsin that legislators
had given the right-of-way at roundabouts to semi-trucks. Now as I
said in many a video, the right-of-way is never taken, the right-of-way is always
given. So if truck drivers plow into an intersection knowing that they have the
right-of-way... that is somewhat problematic. Because everybody has to watch out for
what they're doing - they have to give the right-of-way to other traffic. Now semi
truck drivers also need to know that the roundabouts are in fact designed with
truck aprons and those truck aprons are in the center to compensate for the off-
tracking of the semi-trailer. And it's important that everybody look out for
what they're doing. As well, when truck drivers go through roundabout it's on
their "sight side" so they can look out the window and see if there are other
vehicles in and around them. As well,
car drivers - make sure you give lots of room to semi trucks that are turning
because these trucks have huge blind spots. And if they run into you, it's
probably because they didn't see you or maybe they were looking somewhere else.
It wasn't because of intent, or they were being malicious.
There are incidents of road rage, but for the most part that wasn't what it was
about.
So in conclusion, most roundabouts are designed with truck aprons. The truck
aprons are
colored, stamp concrete and from a distance it looks like paving stones, but
it's reinforced concrete designed for semi trailers to go up onto. And as well
they're elevated to deter light trucks and cars from going on. So it looks a
little different and some of the commerial drivers may not use them.
You'll also find truck aprons at slip lanes and it's to have larger vehicles
minimize their impediment to other traffic when they're turning so that
they don't have to go into the other lane. The off-tracking and the
semi-trailer can simply go up over the truck apron and they can stay in that
inside lane if they're merging onto a multi-lane highway as you can see here
in the image.
I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test. Thanks very much for watching. If you like what you
see here share, subscribe, leave a comment down in the comment section -all of that
helps us out. As well ,hit that thumbs up button. Check out the videos below if
you're endeavoring to get your CDL license - lots of great information there.
As well, if you're endeavoring on a career as a truck or bus driver - great
information to help you out with your day-to-day tasks as a truck or bus
driver. If you're on a mobile device, check out the cards in the upper
right-hand corner. Those too will give you links to the videos. Question for my
smart drivers: did you know about truck aprons and do you use truck aprons to
minimize your impediment to other traffic when you're turning? Leave a
comment down in the comment section. All that helps out the new drivers entering
the industry.
Thanks again for watching. Good luck on your road test. Remember pick the best
answer, not necessarily the right answer.
Have a great day. Bye now.
[CLOSING CREDITS, MUSIC & BLOOPER]
That's awesome!!
[LAUGHING] He just drove right over the truck apron.
That's awesome!!! Thanks dude!!