N.C. Trucking Association teams with government to enhance highway safety
The Trucker News Services
12/3/2007
RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Trucking Association has teamed with the North Carolina Governor’s Highway Safety Program to spearhead a new state initiative aimed at enhancing commercial vehicle safety.
The program is unique in that it not only seeks to educate passenger vehicle drivers about how to drive safely near trucks, but it also focuses on maximizing trucking industry’s understanding and compliance with safety laws and regulations. The general public outreach effort centers on a highly visible “No Zone” campaign which features a dozen wrapped trailers, including one tank trailer, and the distribution of “No Zone” brochures.
In addition to the wrapped truck trailers, at least one thousand back door decals and one thousand sets of mud flaps emblazoned with the “Be Safe-Share the Space” logo will be distributed throughout North Carolina’s trucking industry to help get keep the message in the public eye. N.C. Commercial Motor Vehicle Information Guides have been printed as a comprehensive tool to help motor carriers and truck drivers stay abreast of current operating requirements.
Addressed issues include registration requirements, inspections, weights and dimensions, hazardous materials, and insurance requirements, among others. Additionally, the truck wraps and the printed materials direct truckers to visit NCTA’s Web site, www.nctrucking.com, to access safety information.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, The N.C. State Highway Patrol, and the N.C. Department of Transportation and its Division of Motor Vehicles are also vital partners in this project. They and NCTA are frequent partners on safety initiatives. This cooperative teamwork is evidenced in NCTA having been deemed by the American Trucking Associations to have the nation’s top state trucking association safety program twice in the past three years.
“From advocacy efforts to information services and more, NCTA engages in a great deal of activity on behalf of the industry,” said NCTA President Charlie Diehl. “However, our members believe that the effort to maximize highway safety is this association’s most noble endeavor. We are very proud of the work NCTA and its Safety Management Council are doing to promote this exciting and unique program We are proud also to have our association logo and web address prominently displayed on the trailer wraps and other materials, right there with the logos of those fine governmental agencies.”
Under the program, NCTA is responsible for managing the distribution of promotional materials to the trucking industry. In addition to trailer wraps, mud flaps, and pamphlets, additional logo material include pens, pencils, front license plates, shirts, and hats. The North Carolina Road Team will be distributing “No-Zone” brochures in all of their general public interactions.
A kick-off press conference was held Nov. 29 at the Volvo North America headquarters in Greensboro, N.C., which featured media contact and ride along opportunities with current and past members of the North Carolina Road Team, two of whom currently serve on America’s Road Team.
The educational trailer wraps will be visible in N.C. and across the nation, thanks to NCTA members Swing Transport, Epes Carriers, Old Dominion Freight Line, Eagle Transport, Con-Way Freight, Cargo Transporters, Smithfield Foods, West Brothers Transportation, Wilson Trucking, Cable Transporters, and the NC Truck Driver Training School.
