Preventing serious crashes was one goal of a special training opportunity for the Virginia Tech Corps Of Cadets today. For the first time, cadets took part in a demonstration from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s Sharing the Road program.
Pete the Peterbilt is a truck with a fun name, that shares a serious message.
"It’s a big eye-opener when our attendees sit in the driver’s seat of that tractor-trailer and see the overall lack of visibility that truck drivers have out on our roadways."
Scott Tidwell, Team Leader of the Sharing the Road outreach program
Freshmen members of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets got the chance to spend some time with Pete as they learned about how to drive safely around trucks as part of the Sharing the Road program.
"A lot of our students here at Virginia Tech don’t necessarily have a lot of experience driving on the types of roads we have out here in the mountains: the hills, the turns, and things like that, and they’re going to get on Interstate 81, with truck traffic, with challenging roads so this is a really great opportunity to give some training. "
Commander Nate Brown, Deputy Commandant of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets
This is also timely because two cadets were involved in traffic crashes over the Thanksgiving holiday.
"So going into this Christmas break, and going on into their larger life where they’re going to be driving their own vehicles on the road, it’s very important that they know how to drive round trucks."
Kyle Schoonover, Cadet Captain
The lessons Pete offers are ones we all can learn, including not following too closely and avoiding hanging out in the no-zones.
“It’s a misconception. they do not have better visibility than motorists in their passenger vehicles. so those blindspots are huge."
Scott Tidwell, Team Leader of the Sharing the Road outreach program
The Sharing the Road program has reached thousands of students in more than a dozen states and counting.
After the demonstration, Pete the Peterbilt received an honor of its own from the Corps of Cadets, and it’s now a cadet sergeant first class.