Crashes in the dark accounted for more than half of Florida traffic deaths in 2023. Brooks Law Group shares three rules for driving near trucks after sunset.
TAMPA, FL, UNITED STATES, November 5, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — With the evening commute now running into darkness, Brooks Law Group urges drivers to change how they share the road with large trucks after sunset.
For the next four months, Tampa Bay drivers will make much of the trip home in the dark, sharing Interstates 4, 275 and 75 with large trucks. Since clocks fell back Sunday, the sun sets before 5:45 p.m., in the middle of rush hour. After dark, a tractor-trailer can shrink to a pair of headlights and a row of small marker lights, and the cues drivers rely on to judge its speed, its size and the room it needs begin to disappear.
Florida’s own numbers show what darkness costs. In 2023, 1,882 people died in Florida crashes that happened in the dark, more than five every day, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ 2023 Traffic Crash Facts report. Dark-condition crashes involved about a quarter of the people in Florida crashes that year but accounted for more than half of all traffic deaths. A person in a crash after dark was nearly four times as likely to be killed as a person in a crash under other light conditions.
The danger isn’t unique to Florida. The National Safety Council reports that the risk of a fatal crash is three times greater at night, and that depth perception, color recognition and peripheral vision can be compromised in the dark. Around large trucks, those losses matter more. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration warns that large trucks have big blind spots on all four sides and need more distance to stop than passenger vehicles. A driver who misjudges a truck’s speed at dusk, or lingers in its blind spot without realizing it, has far less room for error.
Brooks Law Group, a Florida personal injury law firm representing people injured in serious vehicle and commercial truck accidents, is urging drivers to adjust their habits for the darker drive home.
“The clock change didn’t add a single truck to the road, but it changed how well drivers can see the ones around them,” said Steve Brooks of Brooks Law Group. “In the dark, it’s harder to judge a truck’s speed, harder to tell how much room you have, and easier to slip into a blind spot without realizing it. My advice is simple: when your headlights come on, back off and give trucks more room.”
Three Rules for the Dark Commute
1. When your headlights come on, add following distance. Trucks need more room to stop, and darkness makes distance harder to judge.
2. Stay out of the blind spots. If you can’t see the truck driver in the truck’s side mirror, assume the driver can’t see you. Pass with care and don’t linger alongside.
3. Move over or slow down. Florida’s Move Over law requires drivers to move over or slow down for disabled vehicles displaying hazard lights, including trucks stopped on the shoulder.
The clock change itself doesn’t make anyone a worse driver. It moves the most dangerous driving conditions of the day into the busiest part of the commute. Sunset in Tampa will keep arriving earlier until early December, bottoming out around 5:33 p.m., and the darker drive home will last until clocks spring forward March 14, 2027.
About Brooks Law Group
Brooks Law Group is a Florida personal injury law firm serving individuals and families throughout the state, with a particular focus on representing those injured in commercial vehicle accidents, including crashes involving trucks and other large commercial vehicles. The firm represents people injured in serious accidents and works to hold negligent parties accountable for the harm they cause.
For more information, visit brookslawgroup.com.
Media Contact
Haven Blackmon
Brooks Law Group
Phone: 800-LAW-3030
haven@brookslawgroup.com
Haven Blackmon
Brooks Law Group
+1 800-529-3030
haven@brookslawgroup.com
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