Finally, the holidays are over and we can all get back on schedule, nothing messes with the trucking industry more than the holidays. Except maybe the cold weather! BRRR!
Top Truck Drivers Selected to New America's Road Team
The American Trucking Associations have announced the Captains of the 2011-2012 America's Road Team. The premier group of million-mile, accident-free professional truck drivers will spend the next two years representing the trucking industry and delivering its highway safety message to the motoring public.
8 captains, with a collective 483 years behind the wheel and over 36.5 million accident- free miles, were selected from a group of 34 finalists who competed this week before a panel of judges from the trucking industry and related fields. The competition included a review of trucking industry expertise and a demonstration of their communication skills, combined with their community service and lifetime safety records.
"The America's Road Team puts an impressive face behind the wheel," said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. "These ambassadors to the industry have remarkable safe driving records and an unmatched enthusiasm for their job and for the industry. Their desire to share their knowledge and passion for safety benefits the motoring public and helps keep our highways safe. The trucking industry is proud to welcome the 2011-2012 America's Road Team."
ATA created America's Road Team in 1986. It continues today with the generous support of Volvo Trucks North America. The Team represents America's 3.4 million professional drivers and serves as an example of the professional dedication and teamwork needed to deliver America's freight safely and on time.
"Volvo Trucks congratulates the highly skilled drivers chosen to serve as trucking industry ambassadors in 2011 and 2012," said Ron Huibers, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Volvo Trucks North America. "These dedicated professionals help create safer highways for all of us and ensure the timely delivery of life's essentials. Volvo also applauds the companies who so generously provide these drivers, making the America's Road Team possible."
While maintaining their jobs as full-time professional drivers, the new America's Road Team Captains will now travel the country speaking on behalf of the trucking industry to the community, news media and public officials. The Captains will address transportation and safety issues, speaking at community events and anywhere they can reach the motoring public to share safe driving tips and offer advice on how to safely share the road with tractor-trailers.
The America's Road Team Captains also advocate safety to those within the industry at terminals and truck stops. They speak with fellow drivers, driver training students and corporate safety officers. They also have the opportunity to present trucking and safety issues before our public officials, at the national, state and local levels.
To be nominated to serve as an America's Road Team Captain, the candidates must be employed as a company driver or leased owner-operator by a full-dues-paying member of ATA. Each nominee must have an excellent safety record and demonstrate an ability to communicate a commitment to safety and professionalism.
2011-2012 America's Road Team Captains
Willie Atkinson - Con-way Freight, Inc.
Gary G. Babbitt - Central Freight Lines, Inc.
Joe Allen Boyd - Wal-Mart Transportation
David Boyer - ABF Freight System, Inc.
Randall Dee Briggs - YRC
Danny Fuller - Con-way Freight, Inc.
Samuel Douglas Lee - Old Dominion Freight Line
Alphonso Lewis - YRC
Kenny Lowry - Wal-Mart Transportation
Dennis Martin - UPS Freight
Nate McCarty - ABF Freight System, Inc.
Tim McElwaney - ABF Freight System, Inc.
Roger L. Nicholson - UPS Freight
J.W. Ray - Werner Enterprises
Dion Saiz - FedEx Freight
Jeffrey Wade - Southeastern Freight Lines
Brooks Washburn - FedEx Freight
Robert L. Weller - Hahn Transportation Inc.
The America's Road Team, sponsored by Volvo Trucks North America, is a national public outreach program led by a small group of professional truck drivers who share superior driving skills, remarkable safety records and a strong desire to spread the word about safety on the highway. For more information go to http://www.americasroadteam.com/
The American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of other trucking groups, industry-related conferences, and its 50 affiliated state trucking associations, ATA represents more than 37,000 members covering every type of motor carrier in the United States.
The American Trucking Associations has led the campaign for rigorous safety laws that affect every driver on the nation's highways. ATA's overall safety agenda includes greater education on sharing the road with large trucks, increased traffic enforcement for all vehicles that operate unsafely around large trucks, the adoption of primary safety belt laws in all states, and reinstatement of a national maximum speed limit of 65 mph for all vehicles. ATA also supports limiting truck speeds at the time of manufacture.
The TruckDriver.com
Carrier of the Month
CRST Expedited
CRST Expedited is the industry's largest trucking fleet of team drivers. They offer premium "just trucking services" with an emphasis on long length-of-haul.
CRST Expedited drivers deliver a level of excellence not found at other trucking companies. Their team-trucking model keeps their trucks and their customers’ freight constantly moving.
In addition to trucking services provided to customers, CRST provides outstanding truck driving jobs for professional drivers, including long haul, regional, air cargo and dedicated fleet driving careers. their trucks are among the newest in the industry.
Truck drivers value CRST’s focus on safety to help them build great driving careers. Their dedication to trucking safety is a vital part of the operation.
Because their drivers face many challenges on their jobs, their long-term careers are built on the reliable truck driving support network at CRST. This starts with their “Shut Down” policy, which allows drivers to make their own decisions about driving in tough weather conditions.
This driver support network is available to their drivers 24/7 and is meant to help them focus on doing their jobs professionally and building better careers. It's something that CRST, particularly their drivers, are very proud of.
CRST Expedited offers many driving programs, in addition to traditional jobs and careers. Many of their programs allow drivers to earn more money and drive in non-traditional team truck driving jobs.
Information about CRST truck driving programs can be found at Join CRST Expedited. From driving with your partner to teaching new truck drivers about building profitable careers, CRST driving programs will help truck drivers earn more and provide exciting new jobs.
Driver Training Programs Expressing Concern with Safety and Training Receive PTDI Course Recertification
Three driver training programs concerned with driver safety and offering high quality training recently received recertification of their courses from the Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI): ATDS, Elm Mott, Texas; Baker College of Cadillac, Michigan; and Houston Community College Commercial Truck Driving Center.
“We were always a school that had a training program longer than most, and we were always concerned about safety,” said Robert Hunt, director of ATDS—one of the eight schools that received the original PTDI course certification in January 1989. “In fact, we were the first school to have an onsite visit back in 1986 when the organization was known as PTDIA. PTDI was doing things that we agreed a school should do to deliver a safe driver; safety has been a main concern for us.” Hunt said that focus is one of the reasons why ATDS continues to pursue PTDI certification.
“I’d like to see more carriers look at requiring their new hires to be graduates of PTDI-certified courses,” Hunt added. “Some of these major carriers are hiring from schools that are just getting people through the system, and that’s a major concern for me when I’m driving on the highway.”
Also concerned with high-quality training and safety, Baker College of Cadillac offers “a training program that emulates the real world that drivers face,” according to Tim Baker, program director who says the new multimillion-dollar facility completed in October is unusual. “We own our own set of double trailers and a flatbed with equipment on it which enables us to instruct our students in great detail, including teaching them to put chains on tires. Our winter drivers are some of the best in the country.”
Having all four Baker College campuses with PTDI-certified courses is an advantage Baker said, “because what we lack in the ‘great up north,’ we can get by going down to our parent campus to give our students what they need.”
Because their students have access to the Michigan Center for Decision Driving (Skid Pad), driving simulators, and a diversity of equipment that trains them to work with the local logging and oil field industries, Baker College enables graduates to remain in the area. “Cadillac is mainly made up of state forests and bears, and our guys normally have to relocate when they get hired,” Baker said, “but some of our drivers go back several generations and don’t want to leave this area, so local employment is important. We are very successful in helping them stay here, and PTDI is a big part of making that happen. PTDI benefits our local economy.
“Baker College as a whole has been working closely with PTDI since we started our program,” Baker added. “There was never any doubt we would not strive to be PTDI certified. Our course was formed with PTDI in mind.”
Houston Community College also offers high-quality training at a premium facility. As Martin Garsee, director of transportation training at the program, explained, “We have eight classrooms dedicated to truck driving on a 13-acre facility designed specifically for truck driving. It’s unusual in a large city like Houston to have this type of facility, and it provides a good, safe environment to learn in. We feel very fortunate to have this type of facility in a college system.”
In addition to offering a premium facility, Garsee said he is proud of his program’s PTDI course certification. “When you can show you meet industry standards, you’re able to hold your head up high and say you’re servicing the population’s needs. Even though our resources are limited, I was willing to factor the cost of PTDI certifying our course into my budget because of the benefits of having that certification. The consistency of the PTDI program has brought us back for recertification.”
Baker said he also can easily justify the cost of PTDI certification. “When I first took this position on a year ago, I wasn’t sure about the need for PTDI certification, but I changed my perspective. Once I started talking to trucking companies and they stressed how important PTDI was to them and I started looking at programs that were not PTDI certified, it became very obvious why we wanted [certification]. My family has to drive on the same highways as these drivers. To me, truck driving is not a fall-back career; it’s a first-choice career, and you need to hold your head up and be proud of it. The more serious we take [truck driver training], the more the students can take pride in what they do.”
The current list of all schools with PTDI-certified courses can be found at
www.ptdi.org.
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We can tell from the results of the TruckDriver.com Old Year’s Resolution Survey that best way to keep from breaking a New Year’s Resolution is to not make one!
Did you keep your 2010 New Year’s Resolution?
Yes - 31%
No - 15%
Didn’t make one - 54%
Now, on to 2011 with the TruckDriver.com Maybe It’s Time for a Change Survey.
Until next time, keep on truckin' and please drive safely.
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