OVERNITE TRANSPORTATION WORKFORCE IS 100% HIGHWAY WATCH® CERTIFIED

ALEXANDRIA, VA— The American Trucking Associations (ATA) Highway Watch® program today announced that Richmond, Virginia-based Overnite Transportation, a UPS Company, is the first of the top 100 trucking companies to train 100 percent of its drivers in the Highway Watch® program.

 

Highway Watch® is a national safety and security program that utilizes the skills, experience, and “road smarts” of America’s transportation workers to help prevent terrorists from using large vehicles or hazardous cargoes as weapons and to protect America’s critical highway transportation infrastructure.  The program is administered by ATA under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

 

“We are extremely proud to be the first company in the nation to be 100 percent certified in the Highway Watch® program,” said Leo Suggs, Overnite’s President and CEO.  “We have always worked to be first in all segments of the industry and our participation in Highway Watch® is no different.  Overnite urges our fellow carriers to follow suit by doing their part to keep our country safe and secure.”

 

Overnite Corporation, a subsidiary of UPS, is one of North America’s leading less-than-truckload transportation companies. Its principal operating company, Overnite Transportation Company, operates in all 50 states, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Mexico. Its sister company, Motor Cargo Industries, is a regional, less-than-truckload carrier primarily serving the western United States, Hawaii and Canada. Together, they form one of the largest less-than-truckload operations in North America with more than 200 service centers.

 

“I applaud Overnite for their tremendous commitment to keeping America safe,” said Bill Graves, President & CEO of ATA.  “They worked hard to achieve their 100 percent goal and they’re the first in the nation to do it.  ATA is proud to have them as a partner in the Highway Watch® program.”

 

In March 2004, ATA entered into a $19.3 million cooperative agreement with DHS to expand its Highway Watch® program on behalf of the highway sector.  Fueled by this cooperative agreement and an additional $21 million earmarked for 2005, Highway Watch® will provide instruction for hundreds of thousands of highway transportation professionals—including commercial truck and bus drivers, school bus drivers, state Department of Transportation (DOT) workers and others—and also administer a national Highway Watch® Call Center as well as the Highway Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC). 

 

Highway transportation sector professionals are welcome to join Highway Watch® by calling the national toll free number at 1-866-821-3444 or checking out our website at www.highwaywatch.com.