Reading turns is a very important part of the job. If you don’t do it properly, you may end up damaging your truck or other people’s property.
Whenever possible, use Google maps to plan your route from the highway to your stop. This will allow you prepare in your mind the steps you will have to take.
See the attached pic to the entrance of a popular Amazon Fulfillment Center. You can see damage to grass on both sides. Since you know this in advance, you are now have a plan on how to create enough space to safely make this turn.
Also, when I’m out in both the truck or car, I always look for damage done by trucks.
You can see where trailers have off-tracked and hit stationary objects or have damaged sidewalks and curbs. The amount of damage, indicates how serious the turn is.
The attached pics show off-track damage. The holes created are pretty deep, so it means a lot of drivers have problems here. BEWARE.
Try to spot these hazards from a distance as this will give you time react and safely create the space you need.