American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the entire trucking industry this week are recognizing the 3.5 million truck drivers who deliver America’s critical goods with National Truck Driver Appreciation Week.
“Truck drivers are an integral part of the nation’s growing economy and deserve to be celebrated by their companies, customers, neighbors, families and friends,” said Chris Spear, ATA President and CEO.
“Everything that we consume—groceries, school supplies, clothes, medicine—gets delivered by a truck driver, whether it’s to your front door, your local market or your workplace. These drivers improve our quality of life by dedicating themselves to safety and making every effort to deliver the things we need efficiently, professionally and responsibly.”
Appreciation week, which runs through Sept. 15, is an opportunity for the trucking industry and business community to make special efforts to recognize professional truck drivers. Thousands of trucking companies, manufacturers, producers and industry suppliers are acknowledging the contributions of truck drivers by hosting cookouts, doing giveaways, honoring safety achievements, announcing new incentive programs and inviting friends and family to participate in the festivities.
More than 80 percent of US communities rely exclusively on truck drivers to deliver their goods and commodities, including the most remote towns and territories that are unreachable by other modes of transportation. Truck drivers operate in many different business models and environments—local pickup and delivery drivers, over-the-road drivers, linehaul operations and team drivers—but the industry is celebrating the dedication of all truck drivers this week.
America’s Road Team Captains and Share the Road professional truck drivers truck drivers emphasized their passion for trucking, the benefits of a truck driving career, the safety record of the trucking industry, and the availability of thousands of truck driving jobs due to the truck driver shortage during live satellite broadcasts Sept. 10 from the Columbus OH terminal of YRC Freight.
“As someone who’s been in the trucking industry for his whole career, I have come to know many great drivers and want to emphasize that these men and women move more than 10 billion tons of freight each year and make our 7.5 million trucking industry jobs possible,” said ATA Chairman Dave Manning, president of TCW Inc.
“Because of their attention to detail and passion for safety, we can trust truck drivers to operate large vehicles, move our precious goods and make good decisions while out on the road.”
Each year, ATA asks the trucking industry to engage local communities in this week’s celebration of truck drivers. As such, ATA puts together an NTDAW toolkit for trucking companies and industry affiliates to use in their efforts to celebrate truck drivers. Public officials, community groups, members of the media and local businesses can also play a role in honoring truck drivers by seeking out opportunities to better understand the important work truck drivers do in safely moving the economy each day. ATA and the larger trucking industry believe highway safety is dramatically improved when the motoring public acknowledges the difficulties of driving a truck and the limitations of large commercial vehicles.
Trucking Moves America Forward is partnering with state trucking associations to honor truck drivers through a nationwide billboard campaign. Billboards will appear in Baltimore MD, Las Vegas NV, Reno NV, Indianapolis IN, Des Moines IA, Conway AR, Little Rock AR, Charlotte NC, Dallas TX, Nashville TN, Dayton OH and Buffalo NY.
