Stay out of their blind spots, like RKDavid said he looks in their mirrors, thats the only way a driver can see you. When you pass get on the farthest side of the lane your in away from the truck, that way if the drivers half asleep or the wind blows him sideways, you have room to evade. And dont pass a loaded truck at 80 mph and cut back in front of them within 4 feet of the front bumper, especially when the traffics slow or stopped ahead.
I dont follow trucks for too long, those duals can chuck 5 pound rocks, and even a pebble coming off at 70 mph is a bullet, not to mention smoking burning road gators. This is all I can think of havent driven for 25 years. Ride safe

 

A total no-brainer... It's the truck's fault. You cannot begin any movement with a vehicle unless it's safe to do so. Period.

 

For those of you that dont hold a commercial drivers license one thing you need to understand is these commercial drivers are held to a much higher driving/safety standard than a regular driver. They are supposed to be 100x better than a regular driver, they are a professional. But sad to say the world has changed and its not like it use to be, too many flakes and there are those that skimp or neglect maintenance which make the roads unsafe. There are good ones out there but not as many.

 

Very sad.

 

I say it was all the driver of the trucks fault. There is no way he can't be held responsible, after all he was backing up on a highway/road. How stupid is that? It's a f^cking no brainier. The girl may have left herself with no options... but the guy was backing up on highway/road! WTF?

That being said... I always position my bike in the drivers side, side mirror when stopped.

Charlie D.

 

To those that say that a big truck can neither stop fast or go fast in reverse, they can actually do both. Air brake equipped trucks are designed to stop even faster when laden. He could have stopped so fast, when he realized that he had missed his turn, that the bike may have barely gotten stopped behind him. Remember, too, that these vehicles have, at least, two reverses. If the driver was in a hurry, and I assume that he was, he may have forgotten to move the selector to low range before shifting to reverse. Stepping on the accelerator while in high range reverse will result in 15 to 20 mph backwards real quick. My only confusion is that it would have taken several seconds to get the truck into reverse from a abrupt stop due to the unsynchronized transmission. This should have given the bike rider enough time to adjust her position in order to be seen by the driver.

Long post short, always ride (or drive) behind a large truck of any type in a manner where the driver can see you in his driver's side mirror. If you can see his mirror, he can see you. Also, leave plenty of room between the two vehicles because they can throw anything that is laying on the road quite a distance.

 

Pa vehicle code places the blame on him. Gogle "limitations on backing" in title 75, the pa veh code. BUT, common sense tells you it is always better to stop where yuou can see the trucks mirrors

 

+1,000

case closed. Truck drive at fault. there is no argument here.

 

Very sad story indeed. A few posters have criticized the rider for being too close and in the trucks blind spot. I would not be so quick to make such a conclusion!! About 10 years ago, I was driving my Dodge Caravan on a two lane stree with 35 MPH speed limit. There was a semi in front of me. He suddenly locked up all his brakes. By the time I got my Caravan stopped, I was only a few feet from his rear bumper. Next thing I know, the truck is backing up toward me. I laid on the horn, but no way he could hear it. He smashed into me, pushed me backwards about 50 feet, and then started forward making a left turn into the entrance he had missed. My Caravan was now locked to the rear bumper of the truck and was being dragged forward. I finally jumped out of the van and ran up the the cab of the truck yelling for him to stop. He never knew he had hit anythig. If I had been on the bike, I'd be dead. Sounds to me like this accident was very similar to mine. Trucker misses his turn and makes a sudden stop. Rider following probably made a panic stop, but still wound up in the blind spot behind the truck. Not the rider's fault at all! No truck (or car) should ever be backing up in a driving lane! You miss your turn - then go around the block and try again. Never back up in a traffic lane!

 

If you can't see the truck's mirrors the trucker can't see you. If you must stop behind a truck you need to pull to the edge the lane.