The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety is a partnership of safety advocates who have banded together to attack the problem of traffic crashes and deaths around semi trucks.
The Missouri Department of Transportation is asking motorists to drive more safely around trucks — and for truck drivers to slow down and pay attention — with its new Big Trucks Campaign.
MODOT understands that commercial trucks are an important part of our nation’s economy and have a large presence on all major highways in North America.
So while Semi Trucks do contribute to some traffic crashes, research shows that too many drivers of passenger cars, especially young people ages 16 to 24 years old, unnecessarily endanger themselves due to inattention or reckless driving around the big rigs.
Even though professional truck drivers practice defensive driving, they aren’t able to avoid everything on the highway when a distracted driver demands most of their attention. The MODOT program enforces the idea that ALL drivers must practice safe driving and share the road with truckers.
From April 16 to May 6, the awareness campaign will remind all motorists to drive safely around commercial motor vehicles. In turn, commercial motor vehicle drivers will be reminded to obey traffic laws, use their seat belts, slow down and pay attention.
Missouri has met its goal of 850 or fewer fatalities by 2012 – two years early! More people arrived alive on Missouri roads in 2010, the fifth year in a row with a reduction in roadway fatalities.
Not since 1949 has Missouri seen so few people killed in highway crashes. Overall since 2005, due to the combined efforts of highway safety advocates in the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety, 1,538 lives have been saved on Missouri roadways, a decrease of 35 percent.
See what kinds of safe driving techniques the program is focused on at SaveMOLives.