Troopers give students an eye opening lesson about semi truck blindspots

Officers with the Illinois State Police say that they recently got the opportunity to educate more than 1000 high school students on what truckers can — and can’t — see from the driver’s seat of a semi truck.

On March 9, the Illinois State Police shared a Facebook post about a traffic safety education event held in Williamson County. They wrote:

We wish every driver could have the opportunity to experience the view from a semi driver’s perspective. The blind spots which hide all types of vehicles are hard to understand unless you sit in their seat.
Approximately 1,500 high school students had the opportunity at the Williamson County Traffic Safety Days this week.

On the right side there are three cars and two motorcycles 🏍🚙🚙🚗🏍.
On the left side there are three cars 🚙🚗🚙.
In the front there is a car 🚗.
In the back there is a full size van 🚐.

All of these vehicles disappear from sight once they are seated in the driver’s seat of the semi. We remind the students to stay out of the truck’s blind spots so they can avoid a crash.

We encourage everyone to drive safe around commercial motor vehicles.

The post has since gone viral and has been shared nearly 1800 times.

Many members of the trucking community are giving thanks to the Illinois State Police for their work in educating young drivers on how to drive around commercial vehicles.