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Coolidge said she hopes she’ll be expect.” She’s lucky, she added, that know how to drive safely around large
able to encourage other women to con- her son is grown, so she doesn’t have vehicles.
sider a career in trucking. the same family demands a parent of “That’s the Share the Road piece,”
“It’s a wonderful industry,” she younger children would. May said. “They’ll be demonstrating
said. through a hands-on presentation with
She’ll also be able to talk about helP us helP you a tractor-trailer setup and letting the
making the adjustment to truck driving The Arkansas Road Team members’ audience get behind the wheel to see
as a second career. presentations will focus on two main where those blind spots are and how
“I’m not new to the industry,” safety messages, O’Neal said: First, long it takes a truck to stop.”
she said. My father was a professional avoid distractions—especially mobile Studies have shown that up to 75
driver, so I grew up knowing what to phones and other distractions. Second, percent of accidents involving big trucks
TM are the result of some kind of maneu-
ver from a motorist, O’Neal said. But,
he said, statistics lose their relevance
when they’re not presented effectively.
“I want our Road Team to focus less
on statistics and more on getting their
audience to value safe decisions behind
the wheel.”
“The message we want to get
TM across is, ‘These are things to avoid,
these are things you can do to stay
safe,’” he said. “For example, when you
pass a tractor trailer and then have to
quickly slow down because of other
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truck driver is following the speed limit
Automatic per diem because he or she can’t bring 80,000
lbs. to a stop like a passenger vehicle.
and expense tracking And when you’re texting or talking on
your phone, or otherwise distracted,
in the palm of your hand. you’re just ratcheting up the risk. Help
us help you, and we’ll make the high-
ways safer for everyone.”
For just pennies a day: Now that the team is officially
in place, O’Neal said he’s looking for
P Automatically track & substantiate with GPS each opportunities to get them in front of
qualifying day of travel different audiences. “We’ll be reaching

P Scan lodging & expense receipts with your phone out to schools, civic clubs and other
organizations and plug them in where
P Automatically apply IRS per diem rules for U.S. and Canada we can make a difference. If we can get
one person to change their mind and
P Create per diem & expense reports to simplify your taxes stay off their phone, or stay out of a
truck’s blind spot, then the Road Team
can literally save a life.
For now, even though she lives a
START YOUR FREE long day’s drive away, April Coolidge is
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just happy to be here.
GET THE ANDROID APP ON “I’m excited to embrace every
opportunity that comes my way,’ she
said. “I’m excited to be in a position to
www.perdiemplus.com educate the public about safety.” ATR

Per Diem Plus™, a proprietary software application, which provides automatic per diem
and expense tracking to truckers.

34 ArkAnsAs truckIng rePort | Issue 6 2015