A truck driver in Puget Sound, Washington, has issued a public warning to motorists in the area: Drive safely around big trucks, or it could cost you your life.
The driver, 19-year trucking veteran Mark Allenbach, voiced his concerns on air, after local Q13 Fox reached out to him about several fatal semi truck crashes that occurred in the last week.
Allenbach told reporters “there’s no question who is going to win” in a wreck involving a passenger car and a semi truck.
At 65 m.p.h. “we can’t stop,” he continued. “It would take 600 feet.”
According to Q13 Fox, 9 people have were injured or killed on Washington roadways in crashes involving semis in the last 7 days. 8 of these deaths occurred in the Puget Sound area.
Allenbach warns that, “if you can’t see the driver of the truck in his side mirror, then the truck driver can’t see you.”
The seasoned trucker also pointed out that the danger of tailgating a big rig heightens as the temperatures rise.
“When it starts getting hot in the summer, you’ll start seeing a lot of tread coming off,” Allenbach warned. If a passenger car is driving too close to a big rig, “it’s [the tire] going to come through your windshield.”
“Our job is to maintain our lane, that’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to run you over,” he added.
Watch the his interview with local Q13 News below.