Highway Watch

Mission Statement

The Highway Watch® program is composed of dedicated individuals who are committed to improving highway safety and guarding the welfare of the motoring public.

Highway Watch® participants will strive to reduce the number of highway accidents, serious injuries and deaths through the identification of unsafe drivers, drunken driving, poor road or weather conditions, poor highway or construction zone signage and road rage.

Highway Watch® participants will seek to reduce police and public safety response time to highway emergencies by alerting transportation authorities and the public-at-large to hazardous or changing road conditions.

Highway Watch® participants will also strive to guard the public welfare through enhancing safety and security at rest stops and summoning help for stranded motorists. Highway Watch® participants will seek to raise public awareness of highway safety by widely broadcasting Highway Watch® reports to the public over broadcast airwaves, the internet and through coordination with other safety initiatives, government officials and individuals who share our commitment to public safety.

Highway Watch Fact Sheet

What is the Highway Watch program?

• The Highway Watch program is a volunteer effort comprised of dedicated transportation professionals who are committed to guarding the welfare of the motoring public.
  
  
• A partnership between the Texas Motor Transportation Association, The Department of Homeland Security, American Trucking Associations, trucking companies and state law enforcement.

How is Highway Watch funded?

• Highway Watch® is funded by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and managed by the American Trucking Associations (ATA).

How does the Highway Watch program work?

• An elite group of transportation professionals are specially trained to use their wireless location and communication technology to report accidents, breakdowns, hazardous road conditions and other highway dangers to the appropriate authorities.
  
  
• Participants are given a specific toll free number to call and report incidents. The operator on the other end takes an incident report and then passes the call to the proper authorities as determined by law enforcement in each state.
  
  
• To become a Highway Watch frontline participant, all applicants must receive comprehensive training where state patrol officers teach truck drivers what to look out for on the highway, how emergencies should be reported, the appropriate numbers to call, safe and responsible wireless phone use and how the Highway Watch program coordinates with other emergency and highway personnel.

How will this program help with Homeland Security?

• The transportation industry is a large and diverse with over three million professionals who are potential army of eyes and ears to monitor for security threats.
  
  
• Transportation professionals are already immersed in the language and business of safety - it is one of the primary concerns of their occupation. The road, weigh stations, truck stops, fueling centers and rest areas are their workplace and they are naturally very aware of suspicious activity and behavior, security threats, unusual cargoes -- keeping a watch out is a natural for truck drivers.
  
  
• Transportation professionals can easily be trained to recognize particular hazards or identify unusual activity; eg: trucks hauling hazardous waste; suspicious CB radio traffic; curious requests from strangers; phony traffic accidents; etc.
  
  
• Transportation professionals are everywhere - ports, airports, malls, bridges, tunnels -- thus giving greater range to homeland security observation efforts.

For more information, contact:
Les Findeisen
Director of Highway Watch
1-800-727-7135
Les@tmta.com