ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Trucking Associations (ATA) commends the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for their nationwide anti-drunk driving enforcement campaign.

The annual campaign begins August 21 and carries the slogan: "Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest." The campaign targets drivers in the final weeks of summer before and during the Labor Day holiday weekend. Over the Labor Day weekend last year, 40 percent of all fatal crashes involved a drunk driver. This year 11,000 police departments and other law enforcement agencies across the nation will work with the DOT to ensure that impaired drivers are detected and arrested.

"We're thankful for the Department of Transportation's leadership on this very serious issue," said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. "Drunk driving is a preventable problem that compromises the safety of all motorists sharing the road."

Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a threat to everyone on the highway, and that threat is much more likely to come from the driver of a passenger vehicle than from a professional truck driver. According to the most recent available Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration drug and alcohol survey data, only one quarter of 1 percent of commercial motor vehicle drivers tested positive for alcohol concentration (i.e., grams per 210 liters of breath) equal to or more than .04, which is half of the passenger vehicle limit. Only 1.3 percent of all commercial drivers -- many of which are not tractor-trailer drivers -- tested positive for controlled substances.

As a representative of the U.S. trucking industry, ATA supports the blood alcohol content limit of .08 for passenger vehicle drivers and the lower legal limit of .04 for commercial drivers. ATA's safety policies also align with leading safety advocates on alcohol safety approaches such as administrative license revocation, ignition interlock devices, and open container laws.

ATA also supports the Safe Roads Act, S.1113, a bipartisan bill introduced by Senator Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) that would create a DOT-administered National Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse to store commercial motor vehicle operators' positive drug and alcohol tests results and records of refusals to take the tests. Since 1999, ATA has been a strong advocate for creating a national drug and alcohol clearinghouse that would also require trucking employers to check the history of applicants with the clearinghouse prior to hiring drivers.

Click here to view ATA's progressive safety agenda.

The American Trucking Associations 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.

SOURCE American Trucking Associations

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