Trucking Ambassadors Burnish Industry’s Image
Truck Driver Appreciation Week Runs Aug. 26 - Sept. 1
By Sarah Godfrey, Staff Reporter
This story appears in the Aug. 27 print edition of Transport Topics.
Professional truck driver Brad Hille never imagined that a short instructional video he made as a way to help other truckers would give him the opportunity to tour the country while representing his profession. Yet, that recording helped Hille earn a spot on the 1986 America’s Road Team, the inaugural squad of drivers assembled by American Trucking Associations to serve as ambassadors of the industry.
In 1985, Hille, who was a driver with Dart Transit Co. at the time, recorded himself explaining a new truck fuel economy device so that Dart might use the tape as a learning tool. “My supervisor liked it and thought I’d be a decent spokesman,” Hille told Transport Topics.
That supervisor told Hille that he should vie for a spot on America’s Road Team, a brand-new, ATA-sponsored national safety campaign that would use drivers as its spokesmen.
Hille submitted an application and, soon after, ATA asked him to travel to Washington, D.C., for an in-person tryout. As part of the tryout, Hille gave mock interviews and speeches about issues that were currently facing the trucking industry.
“I thought it was a hoot,” Hille remembers. “I love public speaking, and it was fun helping the guys who were going, ‘Umm, ah, um.’ I told them, ‘Imagine you’re in a truck, and you’ve got your CB in your hand, talking to the world.’ ”
After the in-person interview, Hille traveled home, fell back into his routine and all but forgot about the Road Team. “I was just an owner-operator cruising around the country having a good time,” Hille said. One morning, he received a call from his dispatcher telling him to drop whatever he was doing and get himself to the nearest airport.
“I got called into dispatch, and they said, ‘Someone from Washington is looking for you.’ ”
Although Hille was preparing to pick up a load, he was instructed to drop off his trailer and fly to Washington to join the other Road Team members. After Dart bought Hille a plane ticket and a friend brought him a sport jacket, a tie and a pair of pants so that he wouldn’t have to wear his work clothes, he was off to Washington. “And the rest is history,” he said.
Hille became one of six drivers from across the United States chosen from 100 candidates to serve on that first America’s Road Team. The 1986 roster included A-P-A Transport driver Jesse Stauffer, Roadway Express driver Tommie Gibson, Consolidated Freightways Corp. driver Edward Meyer, North American Van Lines driver Frank Jones, Coors Transportation driver Bruce Cram and Hille.
The team members, at the time, had 129 years of safe driving among them.
Tom Donohue, former president of ATA, introduced the team at a press conference on Dec. 12, 1985.
“It is our belief that both the American public and the trucking industry will benefit when people get to know an honest-to-goodness truck driver personally and face-to-face,” Donohue said at the event. “None of us wants stereotypes to shape our impression of truck drivers. Nor do we want motorists to judge all truck drivers based on a bad experience with a truck on the highway.”
The spokesmen traveled the country, putting a human face to the big rigs on the highways. Hille said that each of the men adopted a platform.
“My thing was, ‘If you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you,” Hille said. “It tickles me when I see mud-flaps with [that slogan] written on them. I think, ‘Hey, I started that.’ Sure, it was already out there, but that was my thing — don’t hang in blind spots. If you don’t crowd me, everyone can live happily ever after.”
Although Hille had the opportunity to speak to everyone from fellow truck drivers to members of Congress, he said his favorite audiences were children.
“When you’re talking to industry groups, you’re preaching to the choir, but kids are like sponges. If you train them when they’re young, they’ll behave better when they’re older.”
Every other year since the creation of the America’s Road Team program, ATA has selected a new crop of drivers to represent the industry and educate both insiders and the public about trucking issues. The Road Team has swelled in size — the 2007–2008 team has 16 members — and has be-come increasingly diverse.
Although the Road Team has changed and evolved from what it was 20 years ago and has become one of the federation’s most visible outreach efforts, the 1986 team laid the foundation for everything that the program is today.
Road Team members Bruce Cram, Tommie Gibson, Edward Meyer and Frank Jones could not be reached; Jesse Stauffer’s son told Transport Topics that his father passed away eight years ago.
Jesse Stauffer III said that the year his father spent serving on America’s Road Team left a lasting imprint on him.
“Even afterwards, he was still active, still an advocate of safe driving on the road,” Stauffer said. “Even outside of trucking, he was always helping myself and my sister — everyone in the family.”
Stauffer said his father competed in truck rodeos and often placed well in such competitions. He continued driving with A-P-A Transport until his death.
Hille started his own company after his term on the Road Team ended. Fifteen years ago, he opened Hille Trux Tank Lines Inc., located in Jackson, Ohio. Although he has enjoyed a long career filled with successes, he said that serving the first America’s Road Team remains one of his greatest accomplishments.
“It has always been something I’ve been quite proud of,” he said.
This story appears in the Aug. 27 print edition of Transport Topics.
Professional truck driver Brad Hille never imagined that a short instructional video he made as a way to help other truckers would give him the opportunity to tour the country while representing his profession. Yet, that recording helped Hille earn a spot on the 1986 America’s Road Team, the inaugural squad of drivers assembled by American Trucking Associations to serve as ambassadors of the industry.
In 1985, Hille, who was a driver with Dart Transit Co. at the time, recorded himself explaining a new truck fuel economy device so that Dart might use the tape as a learning tool. “My supervisor liked it and thought I’d be a decent spokesman,” Hille told Transport Topics.
That supervisor told Hille that he should vie for a spot on America’s Road Team, a brand-new, ATA-sponsored national safety campaign that would use drivers as its spokesmen.
Hille submitted an application and, soon after, ATA asked him to travel to Washington, D.C., for an in-person tryout. As part of the tryout, Hille gave mock interviews and speeches about issues that were currently facing the trucking industry.
“I thought it was a hoot,” Hille remembers. “I love public speaking, and it was fun helping the guys who were going, ‘Umm, ah, um.’ I told them, ‘Imagine you’re in a truck, and you’ve got your CB in your hand, talking to the world.’ ”
After the in-person interview, Hille traveled home, fell back into his routine and all but forgot about the Road Team. “I was just an owner-operator cruising around the country having a good time,” Hille said. One morning, he received a call from his dispatcher telling him to drop whatever he was doing and get himself to the nearest airport.
“I got called into dispatch, and they said, ‘Someone from Washington is looking for you.’ ”
Although Hille was preparing to pick up a load, he was instructed to drop off his trailer and fly to Washington to join the other Road Team members. After Dart bought Hille a plane ticket and a friend brought him a sport jacket, a tie and a pair of pants so that he wouldn’t have to wear his work clothes, he was off to Washington. “And the rest is history,” he said.
Hille became one of six drivers from across the United States chosen from 100 candidates to serve on that first America’s Road Team. The 1986 roster included A-P-A Transport driver Jesse Stauffer, Roadway Express driver Tommie Gibson, Consolidated Freightways Corp. driver Edward Meyer, North American Van Lines driver Frank Jones, Coors Transportation driver Bruce Cram and Hille.
The team members, at the time, had 129 years of safe driving among them.
Tom Donohue, former president of ATA, introduced the team at a press conference on Dec. 12, 1985.
“It is our belief that both the American public and the trucking industry will benefit when people get to know an honest-to-goodness truck driver personally and face-to-face,” Donohue said at the event. “None of us wants stereotypes to shape our impression of truck drivers. Nor do we want motorists to judge all truck drivers based on a bad experience with a truck on the highway.”
The spokesmen traveled the country, putting a human face to the big rigs on the highways. Hille said that each of the men adopted a platform.
“My thing was, ‘If you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you,” Hille said. “It tickles me when I see mud-flaps with [that slogan] written on them. I think, ‘Hey, I started that.’ Sure, it was already out there, but that was my thing — don’t hang in blind spots. If you don’t crowd me, everyone can live happily ever after.”
Although Hille had the opportunity to speak to everyone from fellow truck drivers to members of Congress, he said his favorite audiences were children.
“When you’re talking to industry groups, you’re preaching to the choir, but kids are like sponges. If you train them when they’re young, they’ll behave better when they’re older.”
Every other year since the creation of the America’s Road Team program, ATA has selected a new crop of drivers to represent the industry and educate both insiders and the public about trucking issues. The Road Team has swelled in size — the 2007–2008 team has 16 members — and has be-come increasingly diverse.
Although the Road Team has changed and evolved from what it was 20 years ago and has become one of the federation’s most visible outreach efforts, the 1986 team laid the foundation for everything that the program is today.
Road Team members Bruce Cram, Tommie Gibson, Edward Meyer and Frank Jones could not be reached; Jesse Stauffer’s son told Transport Topics that his father passed away eight years ago.
Jesse Stauffer III said that the year his father spent serving on America’s Road Team left a lasting imprint on him.
“Even afterwards, he was still active, still an advocate of safe driving on the road,” Stauffer said. “Even outside of trucking, he was always helping myself and my sister — everyone in the family.”
Stauffer said his father competed in truck rodeos and often placed well in such competitions. He continued driving with A-P-A Transport until his death.
Hille started his own company after his term on the Road Team ended. Fifteen years ago, he opened Hille Trux Tank Lines Inc., located in Jackson, Ohio. Although he has enjoyed a long career filled with successes, he said that serving the first America’s Road Team remains one of his greatest accomplishments.
“It has always been something I’ve been quite proud of,” he said.
