The head of the American Trucking Associations recently addressed a congressional committee to outline industry priorities and identify steps lawmakers can take to address safety, job opportunities, and infrastructure revitalization.
ATA President and CEO Chris Spear testified at a hearing before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Transportation and Safety, emphasizing the dangers of speeding and distracted driving among motorists while noting 72 percent of large truck crashes had no truck driver-related factors recorded, fueled largely by the growing addiction to speeding and texting.
Spear also noted ATA supports legislative initiatives designed to bring greater attention to the growing driver shortage while attracting a new workforce to the industry.
“These include efforts to raise greater awareness of job opportunities in the trucking industry, as well as legislation that will bring an important focus to the advancement of female representation and participation in the industry,” Spear said. “Two such bills are the
Promoting Women in Trucking Workforce Act and the Promoting Service in Transportation Act.”
In concluding his testimony, Spear called for federal investment in infrastructure, maintaining the ATA’s Build America Fund proposal is the most viable, cost-effective and fiscally conservative funding mechanism available in the near-term.
“Trucking now loses $70 billion each year sitting in congestion,” he said. “That’s 425,000 drivers sitting idle for an entire year. Sixty-seven million tons of CO2 being emitted. Passenger vehicle drivers now lose $1,600 a year due to traffic and repairs. These are the mounting costs of doing nothing.”