National Trucking Week rolls out today

Cebrations for National Trucking Week 2001have begun across the country.

National Trucking Week, which runs till Sept. 1, is held to spotlight the important contributions made by the 400,000 Canadian men and women who keep the country’s freight moving. The event is also an opportunity to promote road safety and road sharing techniques.

"We want to recognize the vital role truck drivers and other industry members play in keeping supplies on store shelves and our economy moving," says David Bradley, head of the Canadian Trucking Alliance. "Just about everything we need in our daily lives is moved by truck. Without truck drivers moving freight safely, reliably and on-time the country would literally be at a stand still."

“Truck drivers share their workplace with the community and as a result an important message of this week will also be that highway safety is a shared responsibility — all drivers of all types of vehicles have a role to play in ensuring safe highways.”

In Ontario, the Ontario Trucking Association is helping increase public awareness about how important road sharing is to road safety by issuing a news advisory containing road sharing tips and has printed the tips in a newspaper supplement due out during the week. OTA is also orchestrating the following activities for National Trucking Week:

 Newspaper Supplement: A 12-page full-colour newspaper supplement spotlighting the importance of the trucking industry and tips on how to share the road with transport trucks will be distributed. The supplement will be distributed with the following newspapers: Ottawa Sun, Toronto Sun, London Free Press, Kitchener-Waterloo Record, North Bay Nugget, Kingston-Whig Standard, and the Windsor Star.

 Bud Barr Scholarship Fund: OTA will announce the recipients of this scholarship that will go to two Ontario youth. The scholarship is aimed at helping ease the financial strain of post-secondary students whose over-the-road parent has recently experienced an illness, injury or has passed away.

 Sharing the Road with Trucks Video Giveaway: To make Ontario roads safer by increasing community awareness of how all road users can better share the roads, OTA will distribute a free video to the first 1,000 people who request a copy.

 Truckers Participate in Baby Trailer Campaign: To mark National Trucking Week some OTA member companies are having their trailers decorated with high impact artwork which delivers a message about the vital nature of truck transportation. A picture of a trailer outfitted with the artwork can be viewed on the OTA website at www.ontruck.org (see related story on homepage).

 Campaign Trailer on Display at Major Freeways: A trailer has been decorated with special artwork and a message about the vital nature of truck transportation. Throughout the month of August and part of September the trailer is on display at key locations where it can be viewed by travellers on major Ontario freeways.

All over the country industry members and suppliers are marking the week with a wide variety of special events including appreciation gifts, BBQs, washing employee’s cars and so on.