• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

National Share the Road Highway Safety Program Visits Arkansas to Educate Students

Posted on: Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 13:00 CDT

Safety Program Teams with FedEx Freight to Give Back to Community

HARRISON, Ark., May 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Life-saving highway driving tips were presented today as part of the American Trucking Associations' national Share the Road highway safety tour by top professional truck drivers.

Elite million mile accident-free drivers shared their message of highway safety with students from Harrison High School and the surrounding areas. The event, hosted by FedEx Freight, aimed to give back to the community by illustrating to students and attendees how to safely drive around tractor-trailers.

The American Trucking Associations, FedEx Freight, Arkansas Trucking Association, and the Share the Road sponsors, Mack Trucks and Michelin North America, joined the elite group of drivers to discuss highway safety.

"Being able to talk to new drivers is key," said Jeff Thompson, a professional truck driver for FedEx Freight. "It's important to teach them good habits before they develop bad habits. Hopefully, sharing my 3.5 million miles of accident-free driving will help these kids and maybe save a life."

Featured at today's event were professional truck drivers Jeff Thompson, Wayne Crowder and Randy Broderick from FedEx Freight. These drivers are members of an elite team of million-mile, accident-free truck drivers who deliver the trucking industry's safety messages across the country.

Broderick told attendees and reporters at the event that, "FedEx has a large presence around the country, and especially here in Harrison. It's nice to be able to show these students and others from around the community what a professional driver can and cannot see, but also what it feels like behind the wheel. I think we got a few students interested in a career in trucking today, and that's a great thing."

The safety advice presented by Share the Road is critical for motorists because:

• In 2007, the large truck-involved injury crash rate fell to its lowest ever (USDOT)
• Over the past decade alone, the large truck fatal crash rate dropped by 23 percent (USDOT)
• 35 percent of all truck-involved highway fatalities occur in a truck's blind spots (FMCSA)
• Up to 75 percent of all truck-involved fatalities are unintentionally initiated by car drivers (AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety)

At the truck safety demonstration, attendees were given a chance to see the road from the truck driver's perspective. They viewed safe merging and stopping distances, and learned up close and personal some of the differences between how cars and large trucks operate on the highways. Today's demonstration was designed to teach specific skills in order for motorists to drive safely around other automobiles and around trucks on the highways, so that they arrive safely at their destinations.

Share the Road is a highway safety outreach program of the American Trucking Associations that educates all drivers about sharing the roads safely with large trucks. An elite team of professional truck drivers with millions of accident-free miles deliver life-saving messages to millions of motorists annually. The safety program is sponsored by Mack Trucks, Inc. and Michelin North America, Inc. www.atastr.org

SOURCE American Trucking Associations

Source: PR Newswire

More News in this Category