National Highway Safety Tour To Save Lives
on Area Highways
National Share the Road Safety Tour Visits Wal-Mart to Save Lives on Arkansas Highways
Rogers, AR/Thursday, October 6, 2005 ---- The American Trucking Associations (ATA), law enforcement officials, Wal-Mart representatives and top professional truck drivers today presented life-saving highway driving tips in Rogers as part of a national tour by the ATA’s “Share the Road” safety program. The program, through a media tour event in Rogers, demonstrates to drivers how to share the road safely with large trucks. (As many as 55,000 vehicles travel I-540 through northwest Arkansas daily.)
Featured at today’s event was professional truck driver Danny Ewell, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Greenville, TN. Mr. Ewell is a member of an elite team of million-mile, accident-free truck drivers who deliver the trucking industry’s safety messages across the country. Mr. Ewell told reporters at the media event that, “Share the Road allows me as a truck driver to give people life-saving advice. By being aware of the blind spots around trucks, all drivers can more easily avoid accidents. This information, and other safety advice, will help everyone to share the roads safely."
Today’s presentation of Share the Road safety measures is important to Arkansas motorists because, according to national statistics:
- Around three quarters of all truck-involved fatalities are unintentionally initiated by car drivers (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration).
- 35% of all truck-involved highway fatalities occur in a truck’s blind spots (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration).
- Watching this demonstration will help reduce accidents and save lives.
Following the safety demonstration today, reporters and photographers were given tractor-trailer rides on I-540. From the truck driver’s perspective they viewed safe merging and stopping distances, and learned up close and personal some of the differences between how cars and large trucks operate on the highways. Today’s demonstration was designed to teach specific skills in order for motorists to drive safely around other automobiles and around trucks and large commercial vehicles on the highways. (See the attached Share the Road safety guidelines.)
Share the Road is a highway safety program that delivers life-saving messages to hundreds of U.S. cities and reaches millions of motorists annually, designed to educate automobile drivers about sharing the roads safely with trucks. The program, sponsored by Mack Trucks, Inc. and Chevron Delo, is represented by an elite team of professional truck drivers with millions of miles of accident-free driving on America’s highways.
