Share the Road to work with safety partners at Lifesavers Conference

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The American Trucking Associations’ Share the Road program is heading to Portland, Ore., for the 2008 Lifesavers Conference Sunday-Tuesday, April 13-15. Lifesavers is the premier national highway safety meeting in the United States dedicated to reducing deaths and injuries on our nation’s roadways.

Highway safety partners attending the Lifesavers Conference include child passenger safety professionals, state and local law enforcement, community traffic safety programs, state and local emergency medical services, public health, injury prevention programs, federal and state highway safety agencies, prosecutors and judges involved in traffic safety issues, the automotive and insurance industries, and advocacy and research organizations.

ATA says the Lifesavers Conference has become even more relevant and timely, providing a forum for Share the Road professional drivers to deliver the trucking industry’s message of safety on the nation’s highways.

On Thursday, April 10, Share the Road stopped in Denver to help educate students at the Colorado Academy on how to drive safely around tractor-trailers. Kent Durant, a professional driver for Roadway, brought his tractor-trailer to the school to demonstrate the blind spots found around a large commercial vehicle and invited students to climb into the cab of his truck to see what a driver can and cannot see. Durant, who has one million accident-free miles, also gave safe driving tips and talked about his experience on the road.

“My route is Wichita to Denver and back, so this is a great opportunity to talk to motorists that will soon be on the same roads I travel every day,” Durant said. “Safe highway driving is one of my passions, and I am glad to share that passion with the students here today.” Durant teamed with several other Colorado drivers to talk to the more than 700 students in attendance at the event, which was produced in conjunction with the Colorado Motor Carriers Association.

Share the Road is ATA’s highway safety outreach program that educates all drivers about sharing the roads safely with large trucks. An elite team of professional truck drivers with millions of accident-free miles deliver lifesaving messages to millions of motorists annually. The safety program is sponsored by Mack Trucks Inc. and Michelin North America. For more information, go to www.atastr.org.