MoDOT Through the Looking Glass

MoDOT has a bunch of good-lookin’ employees. Who wouldn’t want to catch a peek of ‘em in the truck mirrors?

That’s what I thought after learning that MoDOT’s Northeast District added bright orange stickers to the back of bright yellow dump trucks. The message on the stickers is familiar to those who drive around 18-wheel trucks: If you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you.

It turns out that the district’s safety and health committee recommended the message. Concern about incidents when dump truck drivers backed into vehicles behind them – vehicles the dump truck driver could not see – prompted the team’s action. Since commercial trucks have the same blind spot, the team thought, we could try using one of their safety tactics.

It will be a few months – April 2010, to be exact – before the pilot program wraps up, but the district already notes a decrease in the number of backing incidents. It’s possible the stickers will spread statewide.

Big thanks to the big trucks for inspiring an effective, inexpensive safety tool.

And keep those glances in the mirror quick. MoDOT folks will try to temper our beauty so we’re not too distracting!