Volvo Trucks North America has agreed to sponsor the America's Road Team program, a driver image campaign developed and operated by the American Trucking Assns. (ATA).
The Road Team is made up of 12 captains, all professional truck drivers with exemplary safety records. They spend a one-year term speaking to the news media, driver's ed classes, business groups and Congress, as well as federal and state agencies, as trucking-industry ambassadors.
It's the Road Team's job to educate the public about highway safety and to shine a light on the positive aspects of trucking, according to ATA.
Road Team drivers are nominated by ATA-member carriers; company drivers and owner-operators leased to ATA members are both eligible for the annual competition.
Once the field is narrowed to 36, the nominees travel to ATA headquarters in Alexandria, VA, for the final competition, which includes interviews by industry safety and public relations experts and mock news media interviews.
As a sponsor, Volvo Trucks North America will help underwrite the cost of the program. Susan Alt, vp-marketing, added that the safety message espoused by Road Team drivers dovetails with the company's efforts “to make highway travel safer for everyone.”