09/18/2026
With only a few days left of National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, we'd like to introduce you all to the amazing team of drivers at our Madison Heights facility!
Meet Mike, Lavon, Marques, and Devin. These guys are truly unsung heroes of Eastern Michigan's industry. Without their dedication to reliable deliveries, scores of manufacturing & automotive businesses across the Detroit metro and beyond - businesses that collectively employ 10,000s of Michiganders - could not operate as intended.
You might have seen on social media and scrolled by it without second thought. But the thing is, our country genuinely depends on our truck drivers. If things don't move, things don't work. And who moves most of the things? Truck drivers.
For the next few weeks, we encourage everyone to not only , but to put some extra effort into the gift of helping them get home safely.
Here's how you can do that (for FREE!):
Respect their stopping distance - A semi traveling at highway speeds may need the length of two football fields to come to a complete stop safely. When you merge in front of a truck and immediately slow down, you eliminate their only physical safety buffer.
Stay out of their blind spots - Trucks have massive blind spots. Directly behind the trailer, right in front of the cab, and along both sides (especially the right side). The golden rule to avoid these blind spots is simple: if you cannot see the driver's face in their side mirrors, they absolutely cannot see your car.
Pass swiftly, on the left - When you decide to pass, maintain a steady speed and get through the truck’s blind spot quickly. Never pace or linger next to a truck if it can be avoided. If nothing else, this also keeps YOU safe from potential tire blowout incidents.
Leave space when merging - After passing, do not pull back into the truck's lane until you can clearly see both of the truck's headlights in your center rearview mirror. Why do trucks NEED that much space? See the above point about stopping distance.
Fall in behind - Speeding up to pass a truck, only to immediately hit the brakes to catch a turn, forces the truck into an extremely dangerous aggressive braking maneuver. If it is safe to do so, fall in behind them to make your turn, or if there is no room, simply abandon the turn and navigate back to your destination via another route.
Give them room for wide turns - To make a 90-degree right turn, a 53-foot trailer must swing wide, often steering into the left lane first. Never try to squeeze into the open space between the truck and the curb or another lane of travel, as the trailer will likely completely close that gap as it completes the turn.
Understand their momentum - Trucks lose speed on inclines and naturally gain it on downgrades. Avoid pulling directly in front of a truck at the bottom of a hill, as they rely on that forward momentum to pull that weight up the next grade.
