American Trucking Associations

American Trucking Associations

Founded	1933
Type	Trade Association
Focus	Trucking Industry
Location	Arlington, Virginia
Area served	United States
Key people	Chris Spear, President and CEO Kevin Burch, Chairman and President of Jet Express, Dayton, Ohio.
Website	trucking.org

The American Trucking Associations (ATA), founded in 1933, is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of other trucking groups, industry-related conferences, and its 50 affiliated state trucking associations, ATA represents more than 37,000 members covering every type of motor carrier in the United States. Former Governor of Kansas Bill Graves is ATA's President and CEO.

According to the ATA's mission statement, their goals are ATA's mission is to "effectively advocate and communicate efforts designed to improve safety and profitability for our members," in accordance with the organization's strategic plan and vision."^[1]

History

On September 23, 1933, the American Trucking Associations was established as a national affiliation of state trucking organizations. The ATA was established by a merger of the American Highway Freight Association and the Federated Trucking Associations of America.^[2]

ATA began with a staff of eight working from a three-room suite in the Transportation Building in Washington, D.C. During World War II the Army requested ATA recruit personnel for two quartermaster regiments that would become the U.S.Army Transportation Corps. With calls to the 350 members of the ATA's Trucking Service War Council, 5,700 trucking industry employees volunteered for enlisted positions and 258 volunteered for officer commissions. After the war the ATA was in the forefront of the groups and industries supporting Dwight D. Eisenhower's Interstate Highway System.^[2]

The American Trucking Associations has worked on regulatory issues from the Code of Fair Competition in 1934 to the eventual deregulation of the industry.

The ATA's headquarters are in Arlington, Virginia and the ATA has a legislative affairs office on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.^[2]

In 2016, ATA named Chris Spear as the federation's ninth president, replacing former Kansas Governor Bill Graves. ^[3]

Organization

ATA is the trade association representing its members before Congress, the executive branch, the courts, and the regulatory agencies. It includes 50 state trucking associations, two conferences and three councils. Each state association is an independent organization with its own membership, dues structure, officers, budgets and staff, but having representation and voting powers within the federation. Like the state associations, ATA's conferences (each representing a segment of the industry) are autonomous organizations.

ATA is composed of motor carrier members and is governed by a board of elected carrier representative members. A smaller executive committee is composed of elected members that set policies and priorities. Allied members, representing suppliers to the trucking industry, also have representation within the organization. All ATA members are provided access to experts in safety, engineering, law, finance, communications, information and logistics technology, regulatory and legislative affairs, and a number of other areas of service to the trucking industry.

As members of the federation, ATA's councils are dedicated to continuing education and policy in specific trucking disciplines including safety management, maintenance, finance and accounting, information technology, logistics, and more.

Policies

ATA's messages revolve around three core areas: the essentiality of the trucking industry to the economy; the industry's ongoing efforts and progress made to improve highway safety; and the industry's commitment to reducing emissions and carbon output.

Essentiality

ATA advocates the essentiality of the trucking industry in the U.S. economy. Trucks haul nearly 100 percent of consumer goods and more than 70 percent of all freight tonnage in the United States. Moreover, economists estimate that 80 percent of U.S. communities receive their goods exclusively by truck.^[4]

Economists expect the U.S. population to grow by 27 million in the next 10 years, and overall freight tonnage to increase 26 percent by 2021, with the modal share hauled by truck increasing to 71 percent. To keep pace with this growth, ATA advocates increasing capacity and improving highway infrastructure at the nation's worst traffic congestion points to ensure the efficient movement of goods.

Safety

ATA's safety message focuses on three different key areas: improving driver performance, safer vehicles, and safer motor carriers. The ATA maintains that the trucking industry is safer than it has ever been, according to truck vehicle miles traveled (VMT) figures from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) data on crashes. Since new Hours-of-Service regulations took effect in 2004, the truck-involved fatality rate has come down more than 20 percent and is at its lowest since the U.S. Department of Transportation began keeping those records in 1975. The fatality rate has declined more than 66 percent since 1975. The trucking industry has also seen an increase in safety belt usage.^[5]

In 2008, ATA released a progressive 18-point safety agenda to help further improve highway safety.^[6] ATA recommends the following in order to increase safety through improving driver performance: uniform commercial drivers license (CDL) testing standards, additional parking facilities for trucks, a national maximum speed limit of 65 mph, strategies to increase use of safety belts, increased use of red light cameras, and more stringent laws to reduce drinking and driving.^[6] In order to make vehicles safer the ATA supports: targeted electronic speed governing of certain non-commercial vehicles, electronic speed governing of all large trucks, and new large truck crashworthiness standards. Finally, the ATA promotes making motor carriers safer through: a national employer notification system, a national clearinghouse for positive drug and alcohol test results of CDL holders, and required safety training by new entrant motor carriers.^[6]

Sustainability

ATA supports environmental sustainability policies that provide the trucking industry with realistic ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions without impeding the freedom of movement essential to the U.S. economy. ATA has six recommendations to reduce carbon emissions in the trucking industry: enacting a national 65 mph speed limit and governing truck speeds to 65 mph or lower, decreasing idling, increasing fuel efficiency, reducing congestion through highway improvements, promoting the use of more productive truck combinations, and through supporting national fuel economy standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. These proposals together can reduce diesel and gasoline fuel consumption by 86 billion US gallons (330,000,000 m³) and CO2 emissions of all vehicles by nearly a billion tons over the next decade.

Also, ATA recommends that shippers and carriers join the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) SmartWay Transport Partnership Program. In 2009 ATA was awarded the SmartWay Excellence Award.^[7] By 2012, the SmartWay Transport Partnership will cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 33 to 66 million metric tons per year.^[8]

Strategic plan

The ATA has instituted a five step plan to meet the above goals:^[9]

• Encouraging the trucking industry to prioritize safety
• Continually increasing efficiency and productivity
• Branding ATA as the authoritative voice for the industry
• Providing solid leadership in the industry
• Maximizing human and financial resources to achieve the above mission

Subsidiaries, conferences and councils

• Transport Topics is the national weekly business publication published by Transport Topics Publishing Group covering trucking and freight transportation news. It is owned by ATA and has been published since 1935. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the publication had a paid circulation of approximately 30,000 in May 2007. Its readers consist mainly of executives and managers involved in trucking, logistics and freight transportation.
• The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI)- According to its website ATRI "and its predecessor organization the ATA Foundation have been engaged in critical transportation studies and operational tests since 1954. ATRI's primary mission is to conduct research in the field of transportation, with an emphasis on the trucking industry's essential role in a safe, efficient, and viable transportation system".^[10]

Conferences

ATA Conferences bring together groups of member motor carriers and suppliers in a specific line of business. Conferences are open to all ATA members and have policymaking and advocacy authority in their operational areas.

• The Automobile Carriers Conference covers issues related to the transportation of automobiles and trucks for manufacturers, dealers and consumers.
• The Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference is concerned with the transporters of food, timber, natural resources, farm commodities and supplies, both for-hire and private.
• The Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference represents trucking operations at ports the handling of intermodal containers.^[11]

Councils

• National Accounting and Finance Council– A council for carrier CFOs and managers in federal and state tax compliance, financial management, accounting, insurance, and risk management.
• Information Technology & Logistics Council– A council for today's IT, logistics and operations professionals.
• Safety Management Council– A council for industry practitioners in safety, workplace injury prevention, human resources and employee health.
• Supply Chain Security & Loss Prevention Council - A council for home to carrier personnel in cargo theft, Homeland Security, background check, freight claims, and security regulatory compliance.
• Technology & Maintenance Council- A council for trucking experts in equipment maintenance and specifications, purchasing and on-board truck technologies.^[12]

Driver of the Year

The ATA National Driver of the Year Award recognizes one professional truck driver for his/her exemplary accomplishments and excellent driving attributes.^[13] Contestants for the ATA award start out by winning at the company level and are nominated by state trucking associations.^[14]

At the national level, the Driver of the Year Award is presented to a driver whose professional qualifications, experience and performance are noteworthy. A driver may be nominated for an outstanding deed of heroism or highway courtesy; an outstanding contribution to highway safety, and/or a long record of safe and courteous driving - or a combination of part or all of these.^[14] An impartial panel of judges from the trucking industry, government and law enforcement chooses the winner.^[15]

The honor is considered among the highest a commercial truck driver can receive.^[16] As the ATA National Driver of the Year, the winner receives a cash prize, trophy and diamond lapel pin at the ATA Annual Awards Banquet.^[17]

Past ATA National Driver of the Year Award Winners are:^[18]

References

External links

• Official website
• Trucks Deliver a Cleaner Tomorrow - ATA's sustainability program

Trucking industry in the United States
Regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Economy of the United States
Regulations	Commercial driver's license Hours of service Federal Bridge Gross Weight Formula Electronic on-board recorder Motor carrier safety rating Motor Carrier Act of 1980 International Registration Plan National Network
Manufacturers	Truck manufacturers AM General American LaFrance Autocar Bering Bremach Brockway Chevrolet CCC Caterpillar CNH Industrial Diamond Reo Dina F650 Pickups Freightliner Ford GMC Hayes Hino Isuzu Marmon-Herrington Mercedes-Benz International Kenworth Mack Mitsubishi Fuso Nissan Oshkosh Peterbilt Ram Trucks Sterling Smith Spartan Tiger Truck Toyota UD Trucks VIA Volvo Ward LaFrance Western Star White Engine manufacturers Caterpillar Cummins Detroit Diesel Mack MaxxForce Mercedes-Benz Paccar Volvo Trailer manufacturers Fontaine Fruehauf Trailer Corporation Great Dane Hyundai Translead Lufkin Trailers Utility Trailer Manufacturing Company Vanguard Wabash National Wilson
Motor carriers	Truckload carriers Celadon Con-way Truckload Covenant England CRST FFE Transportation J. B. Hunt Knight Landstar System PAM Transport Patriot Transportation Prime Roehl Transport Schneider Swift USA Truck Werner Less than truckload (LTL) ABF Con-way Freight Estes Express Lines FedEx Freight New England Motor Freight Old Dominion Freight Line Pitt Ohio Express R+L Carriers Saia Southeastern UPS Freight YRCW Third-party logistics providers Access America Transport C. H. Robinson Worldwide CaseStack Freightquote Ryder Total Quality Logistics XPO Logistics National parcel carriers DHL Express FedEx UPS United States Postal Service Regional parcel carriers LaserShip OnTrac Moving companies Allied Atlas Bekins Gentle Giant Moving Company Global Interstate Mayflower National North American PODS Shleppers Moving & Storage Strong College Students Two Men and a Truck United Wheaton
Truck stops	Bowlin Travel Centers Dixie Travel Plaza Iowa 80 Love's Pilot Flying J Road Ranger Roady's T/A & Petro Town Pump
People	Reginald Denny Jimmy Hoffa Fred Smith John B. Hunt Kelly Reno Iyman Faris Larry Walters Keith Jesperson
Organizations	International Brotherhood of Teamsters Owner–Operator Independent Drivers Association Dial-a-truck American Trucking Associations National Private Truck Council FJ Management SmartWay Transport Partnership American Moving & Storage Association
Glossary	Glossary of the American trucking industry
Popular culture	Film Black Dog Breakdown Convoy Duel F.I.S.T. The Gang's All Here Joy Ride Maximum Overdrive Over The Top Smokey and the Bandit (series) They Drive by Night White Line Fever Trucker Television B. J. and the Bear Ice Road Truckers Movin' On Trick My Truck American Loggers American Trucker Music "Convoy" "Papa Loved Mama" "Six Days on the Road" "Teddy Bear" "Phantom 309" "Giddyup Go" "The White Knight" "East Bound and Down" "Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)" "Drivin' My Life Away" "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" "Girl on the Billboard" "A Tombstone Every Mile" "Roll On Big Mama" "Sweet Home Alabama" Radio Road Dog Trucking (Dave Nemo) Red Eye (Bill Mack) Dale Sommers Other The Rolling Memorial Citizens band radio
Note: Defunct companies are shown in italics