Editorial: America’s New Road Team
The new “captains” of the nation’s trucking industry — namely the 19 freshly appointed members of America’s Road Team — are now on the job.
American Trucking Associations appointed the new team last week during a series of events at the federation’s headquarters in Arlington, Va.
The group will now roam the nation for the next two years in efforts to improve highway safety — and the trucking industry’s reputation. They will attend safety events and other activities, meeting with a wide range of people on behalf of the entire trucking industry.
The 19 members will all continue to drive for their respective companies, but will generally spend around one week a month as Road Team representatives.
This group was chosen from an applicant pool of more than 2,000 full-time truck drivers. They have a collective 453 years of experience and 30 million accident-free miles.
The team was chosen from 32 finalists who attended the events at ATA’s headquarters, the last candidates standing after an exhaustive process. America’s Road Team is run by ATA and sponsored by the North American division of Volvo Trucks.
Members are judged on their knowledge of the trucking industry, their communications skills, their records of community service and their safe-driving records.
The captains are “the eyes and ears of our industry,” said Philip Byrd, ATA’s first vice chairman and the CEO of Bulldog Hiway Express, Charleston, S.C.
“These drivers are the epitome of true professionals,” Byrd said during a ceremony honoring the team on Jan. 9. “If you just spend 30 seconds with them, you’ll find out that they’re special people.”
The team includes Don Logan, a driver for FedEx Freight, who was also the Grand Champion at the 2012 National Truck Driving Championships, and Stephanie Klang, a Con-way Truckload driver, who is the first female member on the team since 2005-2006.
During the ceremony at ATA, President Bill Graves told team members, “The image and outreach that you all individually and collectively do does so much to support, supplement and drive home the points we try to make every day about safety and professionalism. You’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of you. It’s a long road over the next two years. But past Road Team captains will assure you that this is a really fabulous ride that you’re all going to take.”
