Nomination Information and Instructions

In an effort to promote highway safety and inform the general public about the trucking industry, the Tennessee Trucking Association (TTA), through the Tennessee Trucking Foundation (TTF) created Tennessee’s Road Team. The Road Team is a statewide campaign to promote highway safety to the public. The program was created and continues with major funding from Bridgestone Commercial Solutions and Pilot Company. 

The Tennessee Trucking Association is taking nominations for professional truck drivers, both men and women, who can take our industry’s safety message to the citizens of Tennessee. These drivers must be willing to spend one to four days per month from January 2025 through December 2026 demonstrating the trucking industry’s commitment to safety and its value to the economic growth of Tennessee. Road Team appearances include teen driver safety education, aging driver safety education, drivers’ education classes, community activities and meetings, TTA-sponsored activities, and trucking events, including safety banquets and driver meetings (Mandatory Annual Convention Attendance each September). The Road Team’s top goals are to create a safer driving environment on our highways and reinforce a positive image of trucking throughout Tennessee. 

Required: Nominee Personal Statement Submission

After submitting the nomination, the nominee is required to complete their personal statement explaining why they would like to become a Road Team Captain. Please share the following link with the nominee so they can submit their statement: https://members.tntrucking.org/ap/Form/Fill/P3oAgFbP

Eligibility and Requirements

 1. Nominees must currently be employed by a member in good standing with the TTA, be full-time truck drivers, and remain full-time truck drivers for their two-year term, either as company drivers, owner-operators or independent owner-operators. If at any time during their active term, a driver becomes ineligible under these requirements, the supervisor must advise TTA immediately.

2. Nominees must have an outstanding safety record and must maintain after selection, a record which includes absolutely no preventable accidents or ticketed violations in either their company truck or TTA No Zone truck and personal vehicle for the previous three years and during their Road Team Service. PLEASE INCLUDE THE LATEST MVR ON RECORD FOR EACH NOMINEE. 

3. Nominees must be able to clearly and convincingly communicate their commitment to safety and courtesy. They must also be able to represent a positive and professional image of the trucking industry. 

4. If selected, the nominees must be willing to spend one to four days each month from January 2025 to December 2026, traveling and speaking on behalf of the Tennessee trucking industry to promote highway safety. This is a two-year commitment. 

5. The nominating company must be willing to continue to pay full salary and provide benefits to the driver throughout the two years, including the time spent traveling for the Road Team. In the case of an owner-operator, the company must be willing to pay the driver his/her overhead costs, plus an additional sum equal to his/her profit per day for each day spent traveling for the Road Team. TTA will pay all travel expenses associated with a Road Team appearance (lodging, $30 per diem per day for meals, IRS mileage rate). 

6. An independent owner-operator who is a dues-paying member of TTA may act as both a nominating company and a candidate. TTA will pay travel expenses but will not be responsible for compensating a self-sponsored owner-operator for overhead or lost profits while traveling for the Road Team. 

In selecting the representatives, emphasis will be placed on the driver’s safety record and ability to speak knowledgeably about the trucking industry. 

How to Nominate a Driver 

The “nominator” must be either a motor carrier executive with the authority to commit his/her company’s support for the program or a self-sponsored owner-operator. The nominator should also confirm before submitting the nomination that the candidate is willing to participate in the program. 

After the individual has been nominated, it is the nominator’s responsibility to immediately notify Tennessee’s Road Team office at TTA if the candidate becomes ineligible during the selection process. 

Once nominations are closed, TTA will announce a group of finalists who have qualified to come to the TTA Office in Nashville on Friday, January 24, 2025, for personal interviews and the selection process. At that time, a panel of industry professionals will select the 2025-2026 Tennessee Road Team Captains who will join the 2024-2025 Captains starting their second year of service. Drivers who are selected will be required to attend two days of training at the TTA headquarters in Nashville on February 20th and 21st, 2025.

Nominations for Tennessee’s Road Team must be received by Friday, January 10, 2025. Interviews and Selection will be held on Friday, January 24, 2025