Ted Scott, ATA Director of Engineering, Dies at 71
Ted Scott, director of engineering for American Trucking Associations and a former director of government relations for less-than-truckload carriers Roadway Express and YRC Worldwide, died Jan. 10 after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 71.
Scott was “a dedicated, longtime ATA employee [who] was so passionate about our industry and a good friend to all,” said Elisabeth Barna, chief operating officer of ATA in Arlington, Virginia.
John Hofstetter, president of Orran Hofstetter Inc. in Orrville, Ohio, said he enjoyed working with Scott as chairman of the ATA Technology & Engineering Policy Committee.
“He was always very involved and knowledgeable when it came to the trucking industry,” Hofstetter said. “I will miss him very much.”
Robert Haag, vice president of operations at Perfect Transportation, a division of Perfect Pallets Inc. in Indianapolis, who worked with Scott to create ATA’s Automated Trucking Task Force, said he remembers him as someone who was passionate about the industry.
“Ted was energized when he talked about the latest and greatest gadgets or computers that would be coming to a truck cab, tractor or trailer in the near future,” Haag said. “It must be recognized that without Ted’s impact, his organization or his influence, we would not be so focused on performance, efficiency and safety inside and outside the trucking industry.”
At ATA, Scott was involved in the development of policies related to longer combination vehicles, highway funding and a wide range of technologies, including automatic braking, truck cab crashworthiness, speed governors and intelligent transportation systems.
In 2015, ATA produced a video of Scott in which he offered praise for a proposed rule requiring new trucks to be equipped with electronic control systems.
“This is a great day for the trucking industry in terms of safety,” Scott said on the video. “We’re going to be saving 1,500 to 1,600 crashes a year, 50 lives a year and countless injuries a year.”
The rule is slated to take effect later this year.
Prior to joining ATA, Scott served for 24 years as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where he worked on projects in Panama, Vietnam, England and Germany along with U.S. assignments with the Engineer Topographic Laboratory in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and at the Pentagon.
A graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Scott earned a civil engineering degree from the University of New Mexico and a master's in business administration from Boston University.
Scott was an avid golfer and helped to coach his sons’ and grandsons’ baseball teams, according to Tom Scott, an information technology contractor who lives in Burke, Virginia. Another son, Ted Scott III, is a civil engineer living in Manhattan Beach, California.
Scott is survived by his wife, Susan, two sons and five grandchildren. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
