WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — A local trucking company is sounding the alarm for safe driving after experiencing a handful of unsafe drivers recently.
“Oh, what do I see? There’s a lot out there,” said Tim Booth Jr., an owner-operator within Godfrey Trucking. “We see a lot of aggressive driving.”
Booth has been in the truck business for more than 30 years.
“Road rage incidents that go on quite a bit, a lot of accidents that happen from people not paying attention. The biggest thing we see is distracted driving,” he said.
He explained that more often than not, he comes across motorists who are not aware of how to drive around semi-trucks.
“We’ve got an 80,000-pound killing machine that we’re driving down the road. It does a lot of damage really fast,” said Booth.
Godfrey Trucking safety director John Mullins said more space is necessary while driving near 18-wheelers.
“We’re not having enough room. [Truck drivers are] afraid that they’re going to take somebody’s life because they couldn’t stop on time,” Mullins said. “Takes 523 feet to come to a complete stop at 65 miles an hour, which is 10 yards shy of two football fields.”