Ah, Easter—the time of year when families flock to the coast, highways turn into parking lots, and roadside servos become battlegrounds. For EV drivers, it’s that special season when charging bays are mysteriously occupied by diesel dual-cabs “just ducking in for a snack”. But if you’re fuming over someone blocking your charger, spare a thought for the truckie being cut off by a Camry with a kayak.
Because whether you’re behind the wheel of a Tesla or a Kenworth, the story’s the same: you’re just trying to do your job, and someone’s always in your way.
According to the latest NTARC report, crashes caused by cars cutting in front of trucks have surged 73.5% over five years. That’s not a typo—nearly three quarters more drivers have decided the safest place to merge is directly into a 50-tonne vehicle’s braking zone.
Aaron Louws from NTI summed it up: “We regularly hear from truck drivers that when they leave a safe travelling distance in front of them, a car will cut in and try to erode that gap.”
Sound familiar? Like when you leave a spot between you and the charger at a roadhouse and someone decides it’s a great time to park there “just for five minutes”?
Truckies aren’t on holidays this weekend—they’re still delivering toilet paper, iced buns and your artisan Easter hot cross buns to the very towns you’re descending upon like a sugar-fuelled locust swarm. And much like EV drivers waiting for someone to unplug at 97%, all they’re asking for is a bit of courtesy and space.
So here’s a wild idea: this Easter, let’s have a ceasefire in the war of road entitlement.
EV drivers—channel your righteous rage not at truckies doing 90 in a 110 zone, but at poor planning and bad signage. Truckies—maybe give a wave to the Polestar that didn’t cut you off. We’re all trying to get somewhere.
Because whether it’s charging a battery or restocking a bakery, we’ve all got somewhere to be.
Let’s make the road a place of patience—not passive-aggressive honks.
Or at the very least, leave the truckies some room to brake.
