TORONTO, Ont. — The Ontario Trucking Association is seeking top professional truck drivers to serve as industry ambassadors for its upcoming 2009-2010 Road Knights team.

OTA Road Knights are professional transport drivers with first class driving records who meet with Ontario community groups to share their knowledge about how to safely share the road with trucks. The mission is to make Ontario roadways safer by encouraging all road users to be partners in safety, according to the OTA. The drivers also make presentations about careers in trucking and the importance of the industry to Canada’s economy.

“The transport drivers who make up the team are first-class drivers who represent their peers – Ontario transport drivers who are dedicated to safety and professionalism in the industry,” said OTA president and CEO, David Bradley. “They are highly-qualified to spread the message of road safety because they travel our roadways every day and have faced every type of traffic and weather condition imaginable.”

Participating as a Road Knight is considered to be an excellent promotional opportunity for the trucking industry, for two reasons: transport drivers speak on behalf of the industry’s best drivers, and carriers demonstrate a commitment to road safety education.

The time requirement is about one or two days each month, according to the OTA.

The OTA states that it provides media relations and public speaking training to the ambassadors, and arranges engagements. Sample speeches, videos and brochures are also provided by the association.

The program is open to both company drivers and owner/operators, but nominees must be based in Ontario and currently employed as a full-time truck driver by an OTA member company. A nomination form is available from the OTA Web site or by contacting the association’s communications director Rebecka Torn at 416-249-7401, extension 224, or by e-mail at Rebecka.torn@ontruck.org.

For more about the OTA Road Knights Team program, refer to www.ontruck.org/info/knights.