As we go to press (we stole that saying from an old 20th Century newspaper man) the Trucking Industry is taking a little bit of a beating in the media. Truck driver fatigue is once again (seems like it always has been) under the magnifying glass of public opinion.

Here are two recent press releases from the American Trucking Associations in response to the most recent coverage. 

ATA Applauds Swift Industry Action on Defamatory Ad

Arlington, Va. – The American Trucking Associations thanked the hundreds of ATA members and industry partners and thousands of truck drivers for taking swift action that resulted in Maxim Magazine correcting and replacing a defamatory advertisement by a Texas law firm.

“We want to thank all the ATA members, state trucking associations, truck drivers, technicians and all our industry partners for coming together and calling on Maxim to distance themselves and renounce this deplorable advertisement that portrays truck drivers as serial killers,” said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. “It was through their hard work that Maxim reached out to us yesterday and offered to replace the ad in their digital editions with a positive, pro-trucking industry ad, and offering to place a similar ad in the print edition of next month’s magazine.”

In a statement, Maxim said the ad “does not reflect the beliefs or opinions of the people at this magazine” and committed to “taking aggressive action to remove the aforesaid advertisement. To illustrate, the ad has been removed from its digital copy and is being replaced with facts about truckers and the trucking industry. Maxim will find many avenues to continue supporting the industry.”

“The swift response of the industry, and Maxim’s equally swift response demonstrate clearly how formidable the industry can be when telling its very positive, very compelling story,” Graves said.  “If this is an indication of how powerful the new industry-wide image movement, Trucking Moves America Forward, will be, the industry’s voice will be loud and clear.”

To see the ad Maxim is now placing in its digital editions, click here.

Statement of ATA President and CEO Bill Graves

Arlington, Va. – Today, American Trucking Associations President and CEO Bill Graves issued the following statement:

“The issue of highway safety, and in particular the safety of the trucking industry, has been at the forefront of the national conversation for several days due to a high profile incident in New Jersey.

First, as always, our thoughts are with the victims of this tragedy and their families. Every crash on our highways is a tragedy and that's why the industry places safety as our highest priority.

Second, I want to address several issues regarding the hours-of-service rules and driver fatigue generally. The hours-of-service rules – whether they are the current regulations, the pre-2013 rules, or the rules with changes we hope to see as a result of Congressional action – only place limits on driving and on-duty time and require that between work periods drivers take a minimum of 10 consecutive hours off-duty. But they do not dictate what drivers do during that off-duty period. No rule can address what a driver does in his or her off-duty time. The industry – including ATA, our member fleets, our state associations and the millions of safe, professional truck drivers on the road today – strongly believes that drivers must take advantage of their off-duty periods for rest and that drivers should not drive if they are fatigued.

Good public policy and good regulations stem from good research and good data. This is why we support a suspension of the controversial and unjustified restrictions on use of the hours-of-service restart provision, which alters driver sleep patterns and puts more trucks on the road during more risky daylight hours. It is also why we support mandatory use of electronic logging devices to track drivers’ compliance with the hours of service requirements.  In addition, it is why we support more aggressive enforcement of traffic laws to combat distracted and aggressive driving as well as restricting the speeds of large trucks to 65 mph with mandatory electronic speed governors.

Fatigue, while an important safety issue, is a causal factor in less than 10% of all truck crashes, and ATA believes we need to do far more to address the other 90% of crashes.”

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Until next time, keep on truckin’ and please drive safely..

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