What are pilot/escort trucks, and how do you stay safe around them?

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It’s said that if you look around your house or workplace, virtually everything there spent at least some of its time on a truck before it got to you. Most items fit inside a truck and just get driven to their destination with no fanfare. But big things get carried on trucks, too; and when they’re really, really big things, that transit will likely require an escort or pilot truck. You’ve likely seen them on the highway, but you might not know exactly what they’re all about.

“If you’re over a certain dimension for a wide or heavy load, you have an escort for the truck, trailer, and load,” says Matthew Dailley, president of DFS Projects, a company specializing in heavy and oversize trucking based in Woodstock, Ontario. “It’s used for public safety.”

Why are escort/pilot trucks needed?

Escort trucks are required when tractor-trailers move oversized loads. The escort driver’s job is to ensure other drivers on the road are aware of the truck and its load, and keep their distance from it. They also assist the tractor driver with blind spots and lane changes, along with determining obstacles such as low bridges, tight turns, or overhead wires or trees once they’re off the highway. Everyone in the convoy is connected by radios.

Dailley uses the terms “escort” and “pilot car” interchangeably to refer to any assistant truck. Others may distinguish an escort truck as one that drives alongside or behind the load; and a pilot truck as one that goes ahead to scan for issues. If the load is tall, the pilot truck has a pole mounted on it, “with a sensor at the top called a whip,” Dailley said. “They set that high pole up four to six inches above the overall height of the truck and trailer unit. If it hits anything, it makes a noise.” At that point, the pilot driver gets everyone to stop, so the team can figure out an alternate plan to deal with the obstruction the whip has discovered.

What are the regulations around oversize loads?

In Canada, the federal dimensions for an oversize load are 23 metres (75.5 feet) long; 2.6 metres (8.6 feet) wide; and 4.1 metres (13.6 feet) high. The U.S. sets a federal width limit that matches Canada’s, but each state sets its own standards for length and height.

From there, the various jurisdictions determine what’s needed, including the number of escort trucks required for specific load sizes. If the load is large enough, a police escort may be required as well. Each province and state issues its own permits for oversize loads to be carried on its roads, and a separate permit is required for each province or state the load passes through.

How do you stay safe when sharing the road with an oversize load?

You’d think a large load with escorts would be hard to miss, but Dailley says some drivers just don’t seem to figure it out. Requirements for the procession can include flashing lights, flags, and “Oversize Load” signs with black letters on a yellow background, large enough to be visible from at least 150 metres away.

When it comes to other drivers, common sense is often lacking. “Speeding and impatience are the two biggest things,” Dailley says. “Give [the trucks] extra room, slow down, and move over. We’re doing the speed limit, but when some drivers pass, instead of taking caution, they’re doing 130 [km/h] and cutting back in. We’re at 250,000 lbs. We have 13 axles and 26 air brakes and they’re there to stop the load, but it takes a long time to slow it down. Just like a train, the more weight you have, it takes longer to slow.”

Dailley will sometimes put a pilot truck in front to keep other drivers from cutting in ahead of the loaded truck, “but there’s been times when there’s an escort 500 feet ahead and another behind, and the escort has lights and signs, and a driver still goes between the two.” When passing a wide-load truck, moving over two lanes if it’s possible is “nicer and safer, but it’s not required,” Dailley says. “If the lane is clear, you can pass in the adjacent lane.”

But if you really want to tick him off? “A lot of times we’ll be in town and making a right, and you have [an escort] behind with lights on. The truck takes a big right turn and guys try to sneak in on the right-hand side. That’s when accidents happen.”

How do you become a pilot truck driver?

Most of Dailley’s escort drivers were long-haul truckers. “Most pilot car drivers are,” he says, adding that they finally got tired of the physical work involved with trucking, including chaining down loads or covering them with tarps. In his fleet, older drivers teach younger drivers the ropes. Drivers hauling oversize loads don’t require special training or licensing beyond what’s needed to operate a tractor-trailer.

But even without a special licence, the oversize loads are a job for experienced drivers, and Dailley makes sure his drivers know how to safely drive the load. “We hope they stay loyal and stay with me for all the training we put into them,” he says.

And while you likely only see escort trucks in the short time you pass them on the highway, that’s often just a small portion of their journey. “We’ve had some oversized loads go from California to the end of Newfoundland with these escort vehicles,” Dailley says. “We do short runs, too, but we travel North America. Our pilot drivers are living the life of a truck driver, because it’s the same pilots the length of the trip. They’re in a hotel every night, they’re away from their families for weeks at a time as well.”

Most of his trucks are GMC Sierra 1500 models with Duramax diesel engines. His loyalty to the brand is because “I have a good relationship with the dealer,” he says. When he started his business in 2015, “he put the deal together and made it happen.” While he has some heavy-duty Sierra 2500 and Sierra 3500 models, some jurisdictions have weight restrictions on the escort trucks, and so he favours the 1500 “half-ton.” His drivers can be on the road for 13 hours consecutively in Canada and 11 hours in the U.S., and he opts for diesel because the trucks can go twice the distance on a tank as the gas versions.

“Our number-one concern is safety,” Dailley says. “Sometimes, even though a pilot car isn’t required, but I think the load is a little too big and the driver isn’t comfortable, I’ll put a pilot on that load. And when you see big flashing lights, move over and take caution when going around. That’s the whole point. We’re there for public safety.”

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