Though no one was seriously hurt in Friday’s Council Bluffs accident in which a car was crushed underneath the trailer of a semi, it's a reminder to drivers to stay out of the blind spot of 18-wheelers.

A mangled Chevrolet Cavalier was squashed under the semi trailer at Interstate 80 and the South Expressway, a scenario truck driver Nathan Bennet from Pennsylvania knows all too well. He was involved in a similar accident years ago.

"He was coming down off a blind hill and I was turning out and 60 mph he drove underneath my trailer. It took 'em four-and-a-half hours to cut him out."

Both he and the driver were lucky. "I was driving a log trailer and luckily that was what happened because if I had just a regular flatbed it would have cut him in half."

In his 10 years as a trucker, Bennet has seen his share of poor decisions by drivers. "I've seen little old ladies squeal the tires to get out in front of you and then do 30 mph."

The biggest mistake drivers can make is not being visible. “If you're within five foot of the end of the trailer, you can't see anybody there, especially if you're loaded," explained Bennet, pointing to the middle section of his cab a few feet behind the driver's door.

"Another thing, they get right behind on your bumper. They think they save fuel mileage that way, that's not the safest thing in the world."

Nicholas Ryan of Henderson, Nebraska is on his way to college and is very aware of the dangers of driving too close. "Know that it's quite a ways behind and off to the side." No driver wants to end up in a bad accident.

Another good reminder is to give a truck driver plenty of space to break. Follow semis at an even further distance than you would a normal vehicle.