TORONTO, Ont. — Truck drivers of the OTA Road Knights Team will host a Road Sharing Exhibit at the upcoming Truck World show (April 22 – 24, Toronto).

The display will feature a tractor-trailer with cars parked in its blind spots. Visitors to the display are invited to climb behind the wheel of the truck cab where they will discover they can’t see the cars located in the blind spots.

“It’s an eye-opening demonstration that the Road Knights have conducted at major public events including most recently at the Toronto Molson Indy,” says Rebecka Torn, OTA’s Communications Manager.

Recent studies in both Canada and the United States indicate that up to 80 per cent of critical traffic incidents involving a truck and a car were initiated by the car driver.

“This is a disturbing statistic that indicates why the work of the Road Knights is so important. Clearly, the roads are a safer place when motorists know more about sharing the road with commercial vehicles,” says Torn.
OTA has an ongoing commitment to raising awareness about road sharing. The OTA Road Knights Team is a group of 12 professional transport drivers with first class driving records who make presentations about how car and truck drivers can safely share the road.

Since the program was introduced in 1995, the Road Knights have delivered their message to tens of thousands of Ontarians through presentations to groups and media interviews. OTA also offers detailed road sharing information from its web site and through the distribution of pamphlets, booklets, videos and province-wide advertising campaigns.

The transport drivers who make up the Road Knights Team are first-class drivers who represent their peers — Ontario transport drivers who are dedicated to safety and professionalism in the industry.

The following members of the Road Knights Team will be staffing the Road Sharing Exhibit in Hall 4 and the OTA booth (#319).

* Mary Ann Geertsema – Kriska Holdings Limited, Prescott
* Gerald Billing – MacKinnon Transport Inc., Guelph
* Randal John Burry – L.E. Walker Transport Ltd., St. Thomas
* James Carniato – FedEx Ground Ltd., Mississauga
* Michael Confurius – Transpersonnel, Chatham
* Albert Cripps – Lodwick Transport Limited, Beaverton
* Winston Goold – Bell City Transport Systems Inc., Brantford
* John Meade – Thomson Terminals Limited, Etobicoke
* Jody Orr – Challenger Motor Freight Inc., Cambridge
* Cecil Ramsbottom – Bulk Systems (A Trimac Company), Thunder Bay
* Beau Rose – Challenger Motor Freight Inc., Cambridge
h Glen Shirton – Municipal Tank Lines (A Trimac Company), Thorold
h
The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) is a business association representing motor carriers operating into, out of and within Ontario. The trucking industry is one of Ontario’s largest employers. Trucks haul 90 per cent of all consumer products and foodstuffs produced and consumed in the province and 80 per cent of Ontario’s trade with the United States. Founded in 1926, the association’s membership comprises trucking companies of all sizes, shipping all types of commodities, from all regions of North America. OTA is a member of the Canadian Trucking Alliance. The Globe & Mail has stated that “OTA and CTA have been among the most successful lobbyists in the land.”