Living in Lexington, you’re surrounded by heavy traffic. This is especially true downtown where you have hundreds of people trying to get to the different hospital systems or eateries along the main drag and Nicholasville Road.
While people are usually fairly safe, it is also highly congested during certain times of the day. It could take you 45 minutes to an hour just to get through the downtown area by Triangle Park, for example.
What makes this congestion worse, some believe, is that large trucks and semis are allowed to take these congested city streets in high-traffic areas. They take up a significant amount of space, and they can cause traffic jams if they can’t make turns or end up heading down a one-way street the wrong direction.
How can you be safer around large trucks on smaller city streets?
To keep yourself safer in downtown Lexington, your first option is to go through the area during less traffic-heavy times. For example, the downtown area is extremely busy during the morning and afternoon rush hours, but if you go through around 11 a.m., the flow of traffic is much better.
Another option, if you can use it, is to skip downtown completely. You may be able to avoid the downtown area by using New Circle Road or taking residential streets. The residential areas are unlikely to have large trucks, and New Circle Road has multiple lanes to help avoid congestion.
If those options won’t work for you, keep in mind how to drive safely around large vehicles. You can keep your speed low and stay back far enough that you can see the driver’s mirrors. If you can’t do that and want to pass, try to pass in an area that doesn’t have narrow lanes. For instance, you can wait until you see an area where no one is parking on the road, so you can give the truck enough space while you pass it.
If you do end up getting into a crash with a large truck, make sure you report it. You should also accept the offer to go to the hospital, so you can begin to recover from your injuries.
