Roehl Transport Cited as One of Nation’s Safest Trucking Companies

What if your favorite football team took the field for the season opener next year and 50% of the players had never played in the pros before? Then, despite the fact that so many players were new, your team executed almost flawlessly, beat all of the more veteran teams in the conference and ended up in the Super Bowl? That’s how it happens at Roehl Transport of Marshfield, Wis.

Despite the fact that almost 50% of Roehl’s rapidly expanding fleet of drivers is new to the industry with less than a year of professional over-the-road experience, the company turned in one of the nation’s top safety records among large (over 100 million miles per year) truckload carriers. In fact, Roehl was the leading “for hire” carrier in the American Trucking Association’s (ATA) 2005 Truck Safety Awards large general commodities truckload carrier category. Based on measurable performance such as the ratio of DOT reportable accidents per mile driven, the award is considered the industry’s premier honor for fleet safety.

“Like the winning football team, it’s a remarkable accomplishment that can only be attributed to great players, top coaching and a team culture that just won’t quit,” claimed Roehl Vice President of Safety John Spiros.

“Roehl’s safety record starts with the right corporate values and everything good happens from there,” Spiros said. “Our cornerstone value is safety. It is the primary consideration of every action and decision made in the company at all levels, all the time. There’s never a question. We never, ever compromise safety or take on increased risk to achieve some other goal.”

That commitment has led the company to develop an industry-leading safe driving program. Unlike the standard “defensive” driving programs commonly used for fleet training, Roehl’s proprietary program elevates the driver’s role to “protective” driving. “It’s not enough just to avoid getting caught up in an accident, our drivers are taught to drive in a way that protects others from getting hurt as well, even when a potentially dangerous situation doesn’t pose a great risk to us directly,” Spiros explained. “We’re not just steering clear of potential accidents; we drive in a way that helps defuse the hazard.” The program emphasizes personal responsibility and the use of seven simple techniques of protective driving.

Closely associated with Roehl’s commitment to safety is a companion value of driver success. “The same impulse that leads to a concern for driver safety also underlies a commitment to top pay, more home time, better equipment, career paths — all the things that help drivers succeed in the job. It’s a whole package that attracts the best drivers, both experienced and students,” Spiros said. “Their commitment to professionalism and our training and support perpetuates our record performance… not just in the area of safety but in every other measure of a top quality carrier as well. It’s a success loop.”

Roehl is one of the 100 largest trucking companies in the U.S. For more information about Roehl, The Take Home More, Be Home More Carrier�, call: 1-800-GO-ROEHL

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