Truckers Look to Reduce Highway Accidents

Signaling the start of the summer driving season, the American Trucking Association’s national highway safety program, Share the Road, will sponsor three pre-Memorial Day safe driving events next week.

First on tap, Lexington, Ky. on Tuesday, May 24, with Kentucky Lieutenant Governor Steve Pence participating. On Wednesday, May 25, Share the Road demos are scheduled for Cincinnati, Ohio and Sacramento, Calif.

Share the Road, sponsored by Mack Trucks Inc. and Chevron Delo, is a national highway safety program that goes “on the road” to teach
motorists how to drive safely around large trucks. In larger cities with
heavy traffic congestion, professional truck drivers provide ride-alongs for the news media to demonstrate truck blind spots, stopping distances, and other truck-related safety issues.

Statistics from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) indicate that up to 75 percent of all fatal car-truck crashes begin with an error on the part of the car driver and that 35 percent of the fatal crashes occur in a truck’s blind spots.