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Picture This: Sharing the Road with Trucks program makes stop at PHS

Research specialist Mark Peterson opens the door of the cab on the Sharing the Road with Trucks program’s semi-trailer for a Parkersburg High School student Thursday at the school. Students were able to get in the truck to see such a vehicle’s blind spots as part of a program from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute aimed at helping young drivers learn how to share the road with larger vehicles. (Photo provided)
Parkersburg High School student Mary Malloy sits in the cab of a semi-trailer brought to the campus this week by the Sharing the Road with Trucks program from Virginia Tech’s Transportation Institute as research specialist Mark Peterson looks on. Students were able to get in the truck to see such a vehicle’s blind spots as part of a program aimed at helping young drivers learn how to share the road with larger vehicles. (Photo provided)
Mike Miller, a coordinator with the Sharing the Road with Trucks program from Virginia Tech’s Transportation Institute, talks with students beside the program’s semi-trailer Thursday outside Parkersburg High School. (Photo provided)
Mike Miller, a coordinator with the Sharing the Road with Trucks program from Virginia Tech’s Transportation Institute, talks with students beside the program’s semi-trailer Thursday outside Parkersburg High School. (Photo provided)

PARKERSBURG – Parkersburg High School’s driver’s education program was joined Wednesday and Thursday by the Sharing the Road with Trucks program from Virginia Tech’s Transportation Institute.

The free outreach program funded by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has a goal of saving lives by showing students how to share the road with large trucks.

Research specialist Mark Peterson and Sharing the Road Coordinator Mike Miller led the program at PHS with driver’s ed instructors Sharon Marks and Charlie Gasell, using real-life videos to emphasize the correct and incorrect ways to drive alongside large vehicles. Students also got a chance to check out the program’s semi-trailer up close and get inside to see its blind spots.

The program mainly serves Virginia, West Virginia and Delaware, but they hope to present the program in all U.S. states and have traveled to California and Oregon, Marks said.

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