Drunk drivers endanger everyone on the road including commercial or owner operator truck drivers. You will likely encounter them during the night hours, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. Be especially watchful between 1 am and 3 am. This is the time when parties wind down and bars close. The drunk driver’s impaired state means he or she could stop suddenly in front of you, or drive into you at an intersection. Keep your distance from them by looking for any one of these six signs:
- Slow response to changing driving conditions. When a lane closure occurs, or a lane suddenly jogs to the right or left, the drunk driver may overshoot before making the change. Changing driving conditions occur with great frequency when driving on interstates through large cities.
- Difficulty staying in their lane. There are several signs of this such as weaving in and out of their lane, or straddling a line that divides two separate lanes. Sometimes they will repeatedly drift out of their lane, then quickly jerk their car back.
- Erratic movements. These indicate an inability to assess road conditions and include over steering, unneeded sharp turns, braking and accelerating for no reason, and sudden movements.
- Inability to maintain the proper speed. Drunk drivers may try to compensate for their impairment by slowing down. This means driving slower than 10 mph below the speed limit. Sometimes the problem is an inability to maintain a constant speed. In this case, they will repeatedly speed up and slow down.
- Poor judgment at intersections. Look for cars that stop well before or past the stop line, or stop too far from the curb. When a light turns green, always look first for someone running a red light before proceeding.
- Driving without headlights at night.
When driving on multilane roads late at night, stay away from the leftmost lanes. Confused drunk drivers sometimes drive in the wrong lanes against the traffic. They aren’t aware of their mistake and will stay to their right, which is the left lane from your point of view.
Protect your financial well-being against chance accidents by getting adequate Texas commercial or owner operator truck insurance. For questions or more information, contact us today.
