National Teen Driver Safety Week Message from CVSA: Cutting it Close with a Truck Can Cut Your Life Short!

'Teens & Trucks' Program Offers Safe Driving Tips Around Trucks, Buses

Parents, Educators and Teens Invited to Visit www.teensandtrucks.org

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Over the past four years, more than 5,000 teens were killed in collisions with large trucks in the United States.  Novice drivers ages 16- to 24-years-old are unnecessarily endangering themselves and others by failing to recognize that large commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) and cars differ in their handling characteristics. During this National Teen Driver Safety Week (October 17-24, 2010), the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) urges parents, educators and teens to visit its "Teens & Trucks" safe driving website at www.teensandtrucks.org.

"Teens & Trucks" is a safety training program aimed at reducing deaths related to CMV crashes and young drivers.  CVSA developed Teens & Trucks in collaboration with the Arizona Trucking Association, Arizona Department of Public Safety, American Trucking Associations and related industry organizations. The goal of the training program is to help educate teens about safe driving practices around large trucks and buses. Funding support for the program's development has been provided in part by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). 

The "Teens & Trucks" program is provided free of charge through a FMCSA grant.  It includes an instructor's manual, student workbook, DVD, brochures and one-page handout, as well as a public service announcement.  To download these materials, or to request a hard copy kit, or to obtain more information about "Teens & Trucks" and how parents, educators and others can get involved, please visit www.teensandtrucks.org.

"Ensuring young drivers learn a few key tips for driving safely around large trucks and buses will prepare them to be better drivers and, as a result, will help us significantly reduce the crashes and deaths that occur from poor driving behaviors around these vehicles," said CVSA's Executive Director Stephen A. Keppler.

The "Teens & Trucks" program was unveiled in July 2010 as part of CVSA's Operation Safe Driver campaign, a Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) dedicated to improving commercial and non-commercial driver behavior and performance through effective enforcement, education and awareness strategies. For more information about Operation Safe Driver, please visit www.operationsafedriver.org.

CVSA is an international not-for-profit organization comprised of local, state, provincial, territorial, and federal motor carrier safety officials and industry representatives from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Our mission is to promote commercial motor vehicle safety and security by providing leadership to enforcement, industry and policy makers. The Alliance actively monitors, evaluates, and identifies solutions to potentially unsafe transportation processes and procedures related to driver and vehicle safety requirements most often associated with commercial motor vehicle crashes. In addition, CVSA has several hundred associate members who are committed to helping the Alliance achieve its goals; uniformity, compatibility and reciprocity of commercial vehicle inspections, and enforcement activities throughout North America by individuals dedicated to highway safety and security. For more on CVSA, visit www.cvsa.org.

SOURCE Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance