Trucking News Roundup
Truck-involved traffic fatalities declined 12 percent in 2008 Truck-involved crash fatalities declined 12 percent in 2008, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The total number of truck-involved fatalities in 2008 reached their low-est level since DOT began keeping truck-involved fatality records in 1975. We are very encouraged by the significant decrease last year in large truck involved fatalities, said Rose McMurray, acting deputy administrator at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). While the downturn in the economy clearly impacted freight volumes and the overall number of miles logged by truck drivers, we believe that the sustained efforts of the indus-try, law enforcement, government and safety groups are paying off. Faced with high fuel prices and a faltering economy, Americans changed their driving habits last year, driving less and slowing down to conserve fuel. This helped improve safety conditions on our highways because speeding and traveling too fast for conditions top the list of unsafe driving behaviors. This achievement is great for all high-way users, said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. We must build upon this and look toward long-term improvements. The trucking industry remains committed to safety and ATA will continue to advance its aggressive safety agenda in an effort to fur-ther this outstanding trend. Along with changes in driving habits, improvements in highway safety also corre-late with promoting best practices and increasing awareness. For example, ATA encouraged changes to regulations that reduced the number of hours that truck drivers can work in a day and increased the number of hours per day that truck drivers are required to rest. While operating under these hours-of-serv-ice (HOS) rules for the last five years, the trucking industry's safety performance dra-matically improved. Large truck crash, injury and fatality rates have reached their lowest point since the U.S. Department of Trans-portation began recording these statistics. ATA also introduced an 18-point high-way safety agenda that focuses on three areas to further improve safety on our nation's highways: improve the safety of commercial and passenger drivers, improve the safety of our vehicles, and improve motor carrier performance. In addition to these policies, ATA's out-reach efforts, through programs like Share the Road and America's Road Team, have also contributed to safety improvements Other factors that contributed to the reduction of traffic fatalities include the increased use of safety belts and programs such as Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT). Data suggest the trucking industry's focus on encouraging safety belt use is working: Seatbelt usage among commercial drivers in the U.S. rose 7 percent in 2008 to 72 per-R R OUNDUP OUNDUP T T R R U C K I N G U C K I N G I I N D U S T R N D U S T R Y Y ATA taps Skip Williams as 2009-'10 Chairman The Alabama Trucking Association Board of Directors recently elected Birmingham trucking fleet owner Skip Williams as its 2009-'10 Chairman of the Board. Williams became the Association's top elected official during the group's bi-annual Board of Directors meeting June 23 in Montgomery. He replaces outgoing Chairman T.J. Willings, president and CEO of the Birmingham-based Premier Truck Centers. The 58-year-old Williams is president of J-Lynn Transportation, Inc. This is truly an honor for me, said Williams. The trucking industry has had such a huge impact on my life, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to give something back. I look forward to working with the ATA board and general membership to create a better business and political climate for Alabama truckers. Williams takes over during a period of severe economic uncertainty for many trucking firms. It is my goal to keep this Association moving in the right direction during diffi-cult times, he said. It will not be easy, but Mr. Willings left a strong foundation to build upon. I am very optimistic for the coming year; however, with so much uncertain-ty in the market now, member retention will certainly be a priority. The new Chairman also briefly introduced the Association's safety agenda for the coming year, which includes the implementation and facilitation of federal and state ini-tiatives such as Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, Alabama Metal Coil Law, and the TACT Program. Other elected officials installed were Treasurer Bruce MacDonald of Carrier Transicold South, Birmingham; and Vice-Chairman Gail Cooper of Boyd Bros. Transportation, Clayton. Meanwhile, the board added seven new members, including Aubrey Baugh, ABC Transportation; Ray Brock, Star Leasing; Will Bruser, Kenworth of Alabama; Mark Coffman, Coffman International; Mike Callahan, Premier Truck Centers; Edmund Doss, Deep South Freight; and Jeff Floyd, Floyd & Beasley Transfer Co. Continued on page 12 ATA_3Q09_revd.qxp 9/15/09 02:52 PM Page 10