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., the owner and operator of 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."
Godfrey Trucking even showed FOX 13 News a road rage incident from early morning on Dec. 17. They're reminding people that these operators make a huge impact.
"We've got your food. We've got your kids' clothes. We've got baby formula. It doesn't matter what it is — we haul it, and our goal is to get it to the store so that you're not traveling hundreds and hundreds of miles to get exactly what you need," said Mullins.
Bringing the gifts that have been added to Christmas lists.
"If you want your Amazon packages to arrive on time, give our semi-trucks to room so you can get your holiday gifts on time too. Drivers, they're the ones putting in the miles so you don't have to, so we should really appreciate that," said Mullins.
So next time you're driving, remember how serious it is to be patient and have distractions put away.
"They need to slow down. They need to give us our space. We'll give them our space," Booth said. "Just because there's a car length in front of us or behind us, doesn't mean that's a space for you to come into because we need that to stop or we need to make sure that we can slow down in time."
Asking people to be cautious behind the wheel, so everyone can get home to their families.
"Let's all just be safe and take care of each other out there because that's all it's about," said Booth.
