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Driving as many miles as possible without mishap is always a good truck driver's professional and personal goal. But the potential recognition and benefits you could gain for exceptional driving may be even more than you thought, including free travel, media exposure and maybe even a bit of celebrity.
Spokespeople for Safety
The American Trucking Associations' (ATA) America's Road Team is an elite group you might consider becoming part of if you're proud of your driving record. Every two years, a full-time driver or independent owner-operator with at least 1 million logged miles of accident-free driving is eligible for nomination to the team, provided the driver's employer is a registered member of ATA, says spokeswoman Jennifer Kohlhorst.
America's Road Team drivers must be willing to appear in public and speak to schoolchildren, corporate groups, trucking students and the media. "Our message is totally dedicated to safety," says Kohlhorst.
What the Role Entails
Buffalo-based David May, who drives double trailers for Ann Arbor-based Con-Way Central Express, is one of this year's 13 Road Team captains. "You do a variety of events," he says. "I was just in New York City with my daughter, and we did a radio commercial for the Highway Watch program."
May has also done outreach programs at the Daytona 500, spoken to a driver's-education class and traveled to an Ohio fair. "Some months, I'm gone one or two days" to travel around the country for the Road Team, he says. "The summertime gets very busy."
The topic of May's speeches is consistent: Road safety for both truck drivers and the rest of the driving public. Road Team captains typically relay the following to their audiences:
- A truck driver's four blind spots.
- The fact that it takes a truck the full length of a football field to come to a full stop.
- Why drivers of other vehicles should not linger alongside a truck.
- The best techniques for driving a tractor trailer.
Trips and activities are sponsored by Volvo Trucks North America, which pays $200,000 for the two-year program. "Safety is more than providing the safest trucks on the road, and it's more than [about the right] equipment," spokesman Jim McNamara says. "The safest truck can be made even safer by instilling the correct attitude and behavior in truck drivers."
Calling the Road Team captains "ambassadors for the industry," McNamara says they teach nontruckers about "why there are so many trucks on the road and why trucks are critical to society."
How to Qualify
Logging the minimum accident-free miles is just the first requirement to apply. Once nominated, you must fill out a written application, create a five-minute application videotape and get your company to agree that you will be paid even when traveling on speaking engagements.
Out of some 400 applications for every two-year cycle, ATA selects about 30 finalists, says Kohlhorst. These drivers are invited to ATA's Alexandria, Virginia, headquarters, where they participate in driving competitions, are subjected to mock media interviews, give five-minute speeches and are interviewed by the judges. "[Judges consider] your accomplishments and how involved you are," says May. "They also look at what kind of additional training you've had." For example, May trained through his company on how to recover a skidding truck.
Selection is always difficult, Kohlhorst notes. Applicants can apply for two cycles in a row, which last two years each, then must sit out one cycle before applying again. The winners spend two days undergoing media training near their base cities to prep for nationwide speaking engagements.
The best feedback May's gotten in his Road Team role came at a recent convention. "I spoke about how important trucking is to me and my family," he says. "One lady's son wanted to be a trucker, and his mother had said she was upset about it. Later, I heard her say, ‘After listening to [May] speak, I'm not upset about it anymore.'"
