FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Eric Reller
Aug. 26, 2008 (703) 838-1896
National Share the Road Highway Safety Program Visits Baltimore to Promote Safe Driving During Back to School Week
BALTIMORE, Md. – Life-saving highway driving tips were presented today as part of the American Trucking Associations’ national Share the Road highway safety tour by top professional truck drivers.
With families preparing to go back to school, Share the Road is using the opportunity to educate parents and students about the necessity of following the rules of the road and how to avoid the blindspots around large trucks.
The American Trucking Associations, Maryland Motor Truck Association, Maryland State Highway Administrator Neil J. Pedersen, Maryland Motor Vehicle Administrator John Kuo, Maryland State Police, Delegate Jimmy Malone - Baltimore County, Vice Chair of the Environmental Matters Committee and Chair of the Transportation Subcommittee, and the Share the Road sponsors, Mack Trucks and Michelin North America, joined the elite group of drivers to discuss highway safety with Maryland motorists. The Baltimore, Md. Share the Road stop demonstrated to drivers how to share the road safely with large trucks.
“Around the Labor Day Weekend, traffic increases as families head out for one last summer getaway before the kids go back to school,” said Chris Serviss, a professional truck driver from Wal-Mart Transportation. “Additional cars on the road means safe driving habits become all the more important. That’s why we’re out here today – to educate the public and make us all a little safer.”
Featured at today’s event were professional truck drivers Kent Durant (Roadway), Steve Fields (Yellow Transportation), Chris Serviss (Wal-Mart Transportation) and Tony Spero (ABF Freight System). These drivers are members of an elite team of million-mile, accident-free truck drivers who deliver the trucking industry’s safety messages across the country.
Maryland Motor Truck Association President Anne Ferro told reporters at the event that, “Trucking is big business in Maryland, so it is important to teach cars and trucks how to co-exist safely on our highways. Share the Road is a vital part of our efforts to make drivers aware of the blind spots around trucks, and help everyone make it home safely.”
Today’s presentation of Share the Road safety measures is important to area motorists because, according to statistics:
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614 motorists died on Maryland highways last year (Maryland Department of Transportation)
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During the last 10 years, 406 people in Maryland died in teen driver crashes (AAA)
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35 percent of all truck-involved highway fatalities occur in a truck’s blind spots (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration).
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According to three different studies - including the AAA Traffic Safety Foundation and DOT, three out of four truck-involved fatalities are unintentionally initiated by car drivers.
Following the safety demonstration today at the new Wal-Mart Supercenter on Washington Blvd, reporters and photographers were given tractor-trailer rides on I-95. 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 on the highways, so that they arrive safely at their destinations.
Share the Road is a highway safety outreach program of the American Trucking Associations that educates all drivers about sharing the roads safely with large trucks. An elite team of professional truck drivers with millions of accident-free miles deliver life-saving messages to millions of motorists annually. The safety program is sponsored by Mack Trucks, Inc. and Michelin North America, Inc. www.atastr.org