The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance announced Tuesday, Dec. 18, that it has launched its Saved by the Belt Award Program to recognize commercial motor vehicle drivers who have buckled up and whose lives were saved or injuries significantly reduced as a result of wearing a safety belt.
According to CVSA, in 2006, 703 drivers of large trucks died in truck crashes, and 314 of those drivers were not wearing safety belts. Of the 188 large truck drivers killed who were ejected from their vehicles, almost 80 percent were not wearing safety belts.
“CVSA created this new program to emphasize safety belt use by commercial motor vehicle drivers, and to use these drivers as role models for safety belt use for their peers and their families,” says Jim McFarlin, ABF Freight System Inc.’s director of safety and security, and chairman of CVSA’s Saved by the Belt Award Committee. “It benefits everyone traveling our highways when we increase public awareness on the benefits of safety belt use and having more people buckling up.”
Anyone interested in nominating a person must submit a completed nomination form and a brief narrative of the crash, along with the accident or incident report and other supporting documents, and indicate why the nominee should be considered for the award. For more information on the program, which is sponsored in part by YRC Worldwide Inc., go to www.cvsa.org.
