ATA reels in carrier, money for highway security program

ATA reels in carrier, money for highway security program    Con-Way Transportation Services has agreed to become the first national motor carrier to participate corporate wide in the American Trucking Associations’ Highway Watch program.
   Drivers for the company’s various less-than-truckload divisions will receive training in how to identify and report highway incidents and security threats on the nation’s highways, the ATA said last week. The ATA operates a Highway Watch call center to receive the information and pass it on to appropriate authorities.
   ATA recently received a $21 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security to support the Highway Watch program available for use beginning in March. In March DHS committed to start the program with a $19.3 million grant.
   Commercial truck and bus drivers, school bus drivers, highway maintenance crews, bridge and tunnel toll collectors and others can receive training under the program.
   The Highway Watch program began as a goodwill effort by the ATA to notify authorities of traffic accidents and stranded motorists, but expanded into a program to train drivers to be alert for potential terrorists operating large trucks containing hazardous material or a dirty bomb after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.