Utah to launch 'Truck Smart' campaign next month
The Trucker News Services
4/17/2008
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s "Truck Smart" billboard campaign, to be launched next month, is part of a three-year attempt at educating motorists about the importance of sharing the road with the nation’s 18-wheelers.
Stephenie Johnson, of the Utah Department of Transportation, said four-wheelers are at fault in 75 percent of accidents involving trucks.
The billboards were designed by a Salt Lake advertising firm and will carry several messages, among them:
"Drive Truck Smart, not Semi-Stupid;" ''Cut Off a Truck, Cut Off Your Life;" and "Don't Meet a Truck by Accident."
Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Bruce Pollei, section commander in charge of commercial vehicle enforcement, said it’s rewarding to see students step down from the cabs of the big rigs with a new understanding of the truck driving experience.
"It is hard to measure the results of the program, but hopefully we're having an impact on the way people behave when they find themselves sharing the roads with large trucks," he said, noting the limitations placed on rig drivers because of the sheer size of their trucks. "We get a lot of good comments and responses."
Pollei also said that this year the Highway Patrol will be adding an "enforcement key" to the campaign. Troopers will be watching out for drivers who follow big rigs too closely or make aggressive lane changes around commercial vehicles.
The Utah Department of Public Safety, in its "Utah Crash Summary 2005" (the latest year for which figures are available), reported that there were 3,470 crashes involving large trucks. Of that number, 960 accidents involved injuries and 28 involved fatalities.
The report indicated that these types of crashes were 2.4 times more likely to result in fatalities than those involving passenger vehicles.
David Creer, president of the Utah Trucking Association, said he views the necessary coexistence of big rigs and automobiles as creating tensions similar to those between cattlemen and sheepherders in the Old West.
"You're both sharing the same range and the key to getting along is respecting each other's presence," he said.
