Drivers Are Trucking’s Long Line of Defense

img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/printeditiontag_new.gif" width=120 align=right>Many government and private security experts not only believe more terrorist attacks will be attempted on U.S. soil, they expect the weapon of choice to be vehicle bombs.

Because of that concern, security is almost certain to color much of the discussion at American Trucking Associations' Management Conference and Exhibition, Oct. 27-30 in Orlando, Fla.

Preventing trucks from being used as weapons of mass destruction is at the heart of what may be one the most dramatic and far-reaching shifts in priorities for the 69-year-old ATA. Federation officials have said that security is a growing presence, whether as a underlying theme or as the main agenda, in many of the issues the association faces. Earlier this year, ATA formed America's Trucking Army, in which as many of the nation's 3 million professional drivers as possible are to be trained to be eyes and ears of the industry — not only as a counter-terrorist force but as also as a resource law enforcement can tap in the more prosaic battle against cargo theft.