Alabama TACT Program
S tate and federal highway safety officials are targeting aggressive driving habits in Alabama through a high-visibility traffic enforcement program called Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT). The federally funded program is the brainchild of officials from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Its purpose is to educate motorists on how to share the road with commercial motor vehicles. The campaign focuses on violations per-taining to, but not limited to: following too closely; improper lane changes; speed-ing; failing to yield the right of way; and failing to signal lane changes. Safety offi-cials hope to reduce risky driving behaviors of passenger and commercial vehicle drivers in pre-determined, high-visibility locations or corridors. While truck-involved crash fatalities de-clined 12 percent in 2008, their lowest level since DOT began keeping records in 1975, safety officials believe that more lives can be saved each year by raising awareness of the costs associated with reckless and aggressive driving. For more than a year now, Alabama Dept. of Public Safety officials have engaged in a variation of the TACT pro-gram called Commercial Vehicle Ride-Along, which was highlighted last year in several media reports and feature articles as part of a statewide crackdown on driving violations (the program is supported by the Alabama Trucking Association). State and federal safety officials are also employing other tactics, including a new facet of the program that pays for trailers donated by Alabama Trucking Association members to be fitted with a custom graphi-cal wrap to advertise the campaign. Six ATA firms recently donated 53 ft. trailers, including J-Lynn Transportation in Birmingham; Southern Cal Transport in Birmingham; McGriff Transportation in Cullman; Floyd & Beasley Transfer Co. in Sycamore; B.R. Williams Trucking, Inc. in Oxford, and J. Crawley Transport in Banks. The wraps were installed in late August at a price tag of $6,000 a piece. The trailers are being placed into service, making regu-lar runs across the country. In fact, some owners have already received positive feed-back from the trailers. J-Lynn president Skip Williams said his drivers love pulling the company's TACT trailer. They all want to pull it, he says. People stop them to ask about the trailer, where it came from, and what the TACT program is all about. The drivers also report they've noticed other vehicles on the road giving them plenty of space. I'd like to have all my trailers fitted with those wraps. While aggressive driving by commercial carriers is a problem that the industry has worked for years to eradicate, DPS Motor Carrier Safety Unit head Capt. Jack Clark says that when analyzing commercial vehi-cle safety data, it's obvious that commercial truckers aren't the main problem. When you look at the safety data, it's not just trucks a truck may be following too closely, but a lot of times it's a bum rap caused by a car driver, Clark told this mag-azine back in February. That's why this program targets cars and trucks. According to Clark, most truckers relish the chance to have a state trooper sit in the cab while on the road, where the driver can point out and the trooper witnesses first-hand some of the antics that unsafe car drivers pull when approaching and passing other cars and commercial vehicles. Generally, a trooper will join a driver in a continuous pre-set interstate highway loop, working with one or more troopers on the ground who stop and ticket identi-fied violators. Clark believes truly professional drivers who adhere to industry standards appreciate such programs, both for the general increase in safety and better public relation benefit Targeting Aggressive Drivers A new public awareness campaign seeks to make Alabama roads safety by monitoring and ticketing aggressive drivers. ATA_3Q09_revd.qxp 9/15/09 02:52 PM Page 6