National Share the Road Safety Program Visits Roanoke to Promote Safe Driving for the Thanksgiving Holiday

ROANOKE, Va., Nov. 15, 2007 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Life-saving highway driving tips were presented today as part of the American Trucking Associations' national Share the Road highway safety tour by top professional truck drivers and other safety partners.

With families hitting the highway for the Thanksgiving holiday, sharing the road safely takes on special significance this season. According to the Virginia Department of Transportation, 20 individuals died on Virginia highways last Thanksgiving and the state is on pace to have a greater number of highway fatalities for the 2007 calendar year.

The American Trucking Associations, Virginia Trucking Association, Virginia State Police and the Share the Road sponsors, Mack Trucks and Michelin North America, joined the elite group of drivers to discuss highway safety with Virginia motorists. The Roanoke, Va., Share the Road stop demonstrated to drivers how to share the road safely with large trucks.

"We all want to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with our families," said Tony Sifford, a professional truck driver from FedEx Ground. "With additional motorists on the road during the holiday season, safe driving habits become all the more important. That's why we're out here today - to educate the public and make us all a little safer."

Featured at today's event were professional truck drivers Skip Goodrich (UPS Freight), Phil Gould (Jevic Transportation), Rich Scholl (Roadway) and Tony Sifford (FedEx Ground). Those drivers are members of an elite team of million-mile, accident-free truck drivers who deliver the trucking industry's safety messages across the country.

Scholl told reporters at the event that, "Share the Road allows me as a truck driver to give people life-saving advice. Most automobile drivers were never taught what they can do to avoid an accident with a tractor-trailer. By being aware of the blind spots around trucks, all drivers can more easily avoid crashes. This information, and other safety advice, will help everyone to share the roads safely."

Today's presentation of Share the Road safety measures is important to area motorists because, according to national statistics:

-- 76,000 people were injured last year on Virginia highways

-- 35 percent of all truck-involved highway fatalities occur in a truck's blind spots (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration).

-- According to three different studies - including the AAA Traffic Safety Foundation and DOT, 3 out of 4 truck-involved fatalities are unintentionally initiated by car drivers.

-- Watching this demonstration will help reduce accidents and save lives.

Following the safety demonstration today at the Troutville Motor Carrier Service Center, reporters and photographers were given tractor-trailer rides on I-81. From the truck driver's perspective they viewed safe merging and stopping distances, and learned up close and personal some of the differences between how cars and large trucks operate on the highways. Today's demonstration was designed to teach specific skills to young motorists in order to drive safely around other automobiles and around trucks and large commercial vehicles on the highways, and to arrive safely at their destinations.

Share the Road is a highway safety outreach program of the American Trucking Associations 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 life-saving messages to hundreds of U.S. cities and millions of motorists annually. The safety program is sponsored by Mack Trucks, Inc. and Michelin North America, Inc. www.atastr.org