Surprised by a changing traffic light and unfamiliar with his surroundings during his first visit to Pittsburgh, veteran truck driver Randy Broderick had no choice.

John Beale, Post-Gazette FedEx Freight truck driver Randy Broderick: "People don't really look at a truck as something with a person inside, but an obstacle to get around." Click photo for larger image.

He had to keep going through the intersection, despite a red light.

Had he tried to stop when he saw the yellow signal at Fort Duquesne Boulevard and Seventh Street, he would have stopped his 28-foot trailer right in the middle of the intersection.

It was an inauspicious start to what had been arranged as a safety demonstration for a reporter.

"That was actually pretty embarrassing. I don't usually have to do that," said Broderick, who said he has not had a single accident or traffic violation in 13 years and more than 750,000 miles as a truck driver.

It demonstrated, more clearly than statistics or hypotheticals, the challenge faced by tractor-trailers, one that most other motorists don't fully understand.

The American Trucking Association aimed to change that by hosting a media event yesterday at the Strip District headquarters of the Pitt Ohio Express trucking firm. It was part of a national Share the Road tour. Representatives of the state police and AAA also were on hand to discuss the finer points of motorist safety when driving near trucks.

"There's a lot of people that don't realize if you jump in front of them, it takes a lot longer for them to slow down," state Trooper Robin Mungo said.

More than 33 yards longer, to be exact. When traveling 65 mph, a truck with a full load needs the length of a football field to come to a complete stop. The average car needs only two-thirds of that.

With 33 million drivers expected to bottleneck highways across the country this coming holiday weekend, that fact is especially pertinent, as truckers and drivers will be doing lots of sharing.

A popular image is that of tractor-trailers hogging more of the roads than they're entitled to, a belief ATA is trying to dispel.

"Years ago, you got this impression that they were all bad, and they're going to run you off the road," Mungo said.

It may come as a surprise to some that in about 80 percent of fatal accidents involving tractor-trailers, motorists who made unsafe actions were contributing factors, according to a AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study.

"That's not to say that [truckers] are all perfect," said Ellen Serrano, national field director for the Share the Road program. "But definitely in the last 15 to 20 years the trucking industry has tried to be proactive promoting safety."

Part of the campaign involves taking truck drivers, selected for their outstanding safety records, to events like yesterday's. Broderick, who drives for FedEx Freight in Ohio, is one of them. He was available to take reporters for 20 minute ride-alongs yesterday.

It was immediately clear how aware even the most experienced truckers have to be around uninformed -- or simply reckless -- motorists.

While Broderick negotiated a wide right turn from narrow Smallman Street onto 11th Street near the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, a driver in a small black coupe decided to make his own turning lane, illegally passing Broderick as he straightened out his wheel.

Minutes later, after the truck crossed the Fort Duquesne Bridge and headed north on Interstate 279, Broderick needed to merge right once the highway expanded to three lanes. He had to wait, though, as two cars took their time passing him on his right.

"You don't ever want to pass a truck on the right side unless you absolutely have to," he said.

Broderick had other recommendations for driving near trucks: stay 25 to 30 car lengths behind and never linger in a truck's blind spots, which extend roughly the length of the trailer on the driver's left and the length of the trailer and part of the cab on the right.

But nothing is more important than simply exercising caution when driving near a tractor-trailer. "People don't really look at a truck as something with a person inside," Broderick said, "but an obstacle to get around."