OTA Members Recognized with Prestigious Fleet Safety Awards

OTA Members Recognized with Prestigious Fleet Safety Awards

Bison Transport, MacKinnon Transport, Erb International and Groupe Robert receive awards

(March, 2008) -- Canadian companies, all of whom are members of the Ontario Trucking Association, are among the fleets recognized by the US-based Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) for excellence in fleet safety.

TCA announced the grand prize winners of its highly coveted 33^rd Annual National Fleet Safety Awards: Bison Transport of Winnipeg, Manitoba, won in the category for truckload companies with a total annual mileage of more than 25 million miles. Stagecoach Cartage & Distribution, LP of El Paso, Texas, won the award for truckload companies with a total annual mileage of less than 25 million miles, and

The awards were presented at TCA’s annual banquet held March 3, 2008, at The Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas.

The two grand prize winners were selected from among 18 division winners in the National Fleet Safety Division Awards announced in January. Both companies strive to meet stringent standards in their overall safety programs, on and off the highway, and were judged to be the best in their commitments to improving safety on our nation’s highways.

The following companies are the top divisional winners based on low accident frequency per million miles (listed first through third place) – Canadian companies are noted in bold:

Division I - Under 5 Million Miles

StageLine Express, Inc. of Coopersville, Michigan
Excargo Services, Inc. of Houston, Texas
Rochester Cartage, Inc. of Rochester, Minnesota

Division II - 5-14.99 Million Miles

H.O. Bouchard, Inc. of Hampden, Maine
Stallion Express, Inc. of Beebe, Arkansas
Lydall Transport LTD of Glen Allen, Virginia

Division III - 15-24.99 Million Miles

D & D Sexton, Inc. of Carthage, Missouri
Usher Transport, Inc. of Louisville, Kentucky
Stagecoach Cartage & Distribution, LP of El Paso, Texas

Division IV - 25-49.99 Million Miles

MacKinnon Transport, Inc. of Guelph, Ontario
Erb International of New Hamburg, Ontario
Metropolitan Trucking, Inc. of Maywood, New Jersey

Division V - 50-99.99 Million Miles

Groupe Robert, Inc. of Rougemont, Québec
Carter Express, Inc. of Anderson, Indiana
Koch Companies, Inc. of Minneapolis, Minnesota

Division VI - 100+ Million Miles

Bison Transport of Winnipeg, Manitoba
May Trucking Company of Salem, Oregon
Roehl Transport, Inc. of Marshfield, Wisconsin

For Bison Transport, 2007 marks the third consecutive year of winning TCA’s Grand Prize National Safety Award for its mileage category. When it first won in 2005, the carrier had created a “You’re Safe With Me” campaign; this campaign continues today and has been expanded with much success.

A new feature of the 2007 campaign is the development of a Driver Risk Level Assessment, which applies point values for both positive and negative things, such as training a driver has taken, positive DriverCheck reports, moving or log violations, and preventable accidents. When the formula is calculated, it helps Bison identify a driver’s risk level and bring him to an acceptable level of risk before he might be involved in an accident. The tool allows Bison management to replace general fleet training programs with specific programs tailored to the individual driver, at the urgency level required. This results in safer drivers overall.

In its Grand Prize application, Bison Transport writes: “Our philosophy is simple and unwavering. We do what is right! ... We are vigilant in the protection of our people, our assets, the cargo our customers entrust us with, our environment and those we share the roads with. We encourage and reward safe driving practices and we remind our people daily of their responsibility, as professionals, to uphold safety.”

The judging process began with the determination of the top companies in each of six mileage divisions. The division winners (listed below) were selected based on accident frequency only. The top three winners in each division were then able to compete for the two grand prizes. The grand prize-winning companies were judged on their excellent overall safety programs, both on- and off-highway. During the judging, some of the factors considered included safety program organization, employee driver/independent contractor selection procedures, training, supervision, accident investigation, inspection and maintenance of equipment, and outside activities such as general highway safety. In an effort to ensure the highest level of integrity in the contest, all grand prize finalists were audited by independent auditors not affiliated with TCA or the carriers.

Source: Truckload Carriers Association www.truckload.org

TCA represents the truckload segment of the motor carrier industry. The association represents dry van, refrigerated, flatbed, and intermodal container carriers operating in the 48 contiguous states, as well as Alaska, Mexico, and Canada. Representing operators of more than 200,000 trucks, which collectively produce annual revenue of more than $20 billion, TCA is an organization tailored to specific truckload carrier needs.

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