Iowa Motor Truck Association’s Sharing the Road with Trucks Program

IMTA provides two unique programs targeted at helping young drivers learn the essential components of sharing the roadway with trucks. The first program is designed to give driver education instructors all the tools to effectively educate the young drivers. The Iowa Motor Truck Association sponsors a day-long course specifically for the driver education instructors. The teachers are taught the curriculum and given all the tools to take that curriculum to the students. Following the classroom session, the instructors are given the opportunity to actually drive an 18 wheeler through a simulated course and then go for a ride in a big truck and see the different driving scenarios that further illustrate the importance of sharing the road with trucks. Over the past several years, over 35 driver education instructors have participated and benefited from this important session.

The second program is designed for the young drivers. The Iowa Motor Truck Association contacts all the Iowa High Schools and offers to come to the school and put on a program on sharing the road with trucks. A professional truck driver is always one of the speakers and a demonstration with an actual truck and cars is set up for the students to gain an appreciation of blind spots and other factors involved with sharing the road with trucks. This assembly type program is very well received and enables young students and drivers of all ages to learn quickly and graphically the importance of sharing the road with trucks. Over the past several years, thousands of Iowa high school students have taken part in this program and learned the importance of sharing the road with trucks.

The Iowa Motor Truck Association would like to expand the program to make it available to all 300+ high schools in the State and a fundraising effort is now underway to secure funds for this important effort. Education and understanding is the key to sharing the road with trucks. Iowa’s trucking industry is dedicated to safety and efforts such as this only further demonstrate the trucking industry’s commitment to saving lives on the highways. The association most recently received a national award for this important program.