Weyerhaeuser Company and the Alabama Loggers Council are riding tandem in a radio campaign that details how to drive safely around big trucks.
“Be seen and be safe when driving around big trucks” is the primary message of a series of radio ads being aired in Alabama communities. Log truck drivers also advise vehicle drivers not to cut in front of big rigs, never to tailgate, always wear seat belts and be aware of a truck’s blind spots, called the “No Zone.”
“Remember, if you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you,” advises a truck driver in one of the radio spots, which are filled with common-sense safety advice from experienced local log truck drivers.
The Alabama Loggers Council, which represents the state’s 1,500 loggers, partnered with Weyerhaeuser on the truck safety campaign, through an Alabama Forest Forever forestry education grant funded through forestry car tag sales.
Weyerhaeuser Company, which operates six forest product manufacturing facilities in Alabama, manages 580,000 acres of timberlands in the state and contracts for the transport of hundreds of truck loads of logs and other raw materials daily, is sponsoring the ads as part of its safety program which includes independent safety audits for Weyerhaeuser contract drivers. Weyerhaeuser has sponsored similar truck safety campaign in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and North Carolina.
“Weyerhaeuser is working hard to improve safety in all aspects of our business,” said, Ken Durand, Mississippi-Alabama Timberlands manager. “But it takes good driving and awareness by all of us to keep the roads safe for everyone.”
“It takes about 5,000 loads of wood a day to run the forest products industry in Alabama,” says Bill Jones, executive director of the Alabama Loggers Council, in one of the ads he recorded for the safety campaign. In another ad, he reminds drivers of the $5 million raised for Children’s Hospitals in Alabama by the Log-A-Load for Kids program.
Log truck drivers who deliver raw materials to Weyerhaeuser’s Alabama operations and Alabama Loggers Council members from across the state participated in the radio advertisements, which run in most areas through mid November.
Featured on the Weyerhaeuser radio ads in Alabama are: Bill Grace of Gilbertown, Kyle Adams of Millry and Claude Pearson of Columburg with Mid-Star Wood Haulers, Steve Maness of Camden with South Alabama Wood, Roger Cunningham of Millport with Cunningham Logging, Rodney Estes of Reform with R.D. Estes Trucking, Joe Watford of Abbeville with Watford Trucking, Jimmy Hudspeth of Dothan with Hudspeth Trucking, Chris Potts of LaFayette with Potts Brothers Logging, Charles Burton of LaFayette with Burton Logging, Charles Hunt and David Ginn of Fruithurst with Tallapoosa River Forest Products, Joey Hunt of Fruithurst with Hunt Logging, and Bill Jones of Millbrook with the Alabama Loggers Council.
The truck safety radio ads can be heard in Alabama on WTXT 98.1 and WZBQ 94.1 from Tuscaloosa, WJDB 95.5 from Thomasville, WINL 98.5 from Linden, WLWI 92.3 from Montgomery, WPGG Power Pig from Evergreen, WKXK and WKXN 107.1, 107.9, 95.9 and 96.7 from Montgomery, Pine Hill and Greenville, WOOF 99.7 and AM 960 from Dothan, KISS 102.7 from Fruithurst, BULL 100.9 from Valley, WKGA 97.5 from Sylacauga and WPRN 107.7 from Butler. Some of the ads also can be heard at the Loggers Council section of the Alabama Forestry Association’s website, www.alaforestry.org.
The truck safety radio ads include information that passenger car drivers may not normally think about regarding large trucks. For 18-wheelers, accelerating, slowing down and stopping take more time and much more space than other vehicles. Large trucks have large blind spots, make wide turns and aren’t as maneuverable as passenger cars.
In addition to the radio ads, Weyerhaeuser and the Alabama Loggers Council plan to provide a log truck safety video – which covers much of the same safety information on driving around big trucks – to all public schools in Alabama to be used as a part of driver’s education classes.
The Alabama Loggers Council (ALC) gives a unified voice to Alabama's 1,500 loggers and their vendors. Founded in 1992, the ALC's mission is to both represent the interest of its members and to enhance the public image of logging and the forest industry as a whole in the state of Alabama. In addition to the political arena, the ALC's activities include the development of safety programs and providing logger education and training.
In Alabama, Weyerhaeuser manages 584,000 acres of forest land, all certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI®) standard. At its largest operation at Pine Hill, Ala. in Wilcox County, Weyerhaeuser produces containerboard, the strong brown paper used to make shipping boxes and other containers. Also at Pine Hill are timberland offices and a seed orchard and nursery, plus iLevel Wood Technologies operations. Elsewhere in the state, Weyerhaeuser operates the Huntsville packaging plant, the Millport iLevel Lumber Technologies mill, the Tuscumbia iLevel Hardwood and Industrial Products Service Center and the Evergreen iLevel Veneer Technologies mill. Weyerhaeuser employs more than 1,200 Alabamians in full-time, family-wage jobs.
Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world's largest forest products companies, was incorporated in 1900. In 2006, sales were $21.9 billion. It has offices or operations in 18 countries, with customers worldwide. Weyerhaeuser is principally engaged in the growing and harvesting of timber; the manufacture, distribution and sale of forest products; and real estate construction, development and related activities. Additional information about Weyerhaeuser's businesses, products and practices is available at http://www.weyerhaeuser.com.
