Highway Watch Going Out of Business

Is this a waste of government money or what? This makes me mad!

Hard times seems to be the word of the day in the trucking industry. The American Trucking Association (ATA) just lost government funding for the "Highway Watch" program. They were getting about $10 million a year.

The Department of Homeland Security just awarded a new $15.5 million dollar contract to HMS Company to fund an anti-terrorism and security awareness program for highway professionals in support of the National Preparedness Guidelines. Until this year, it had been administered through ATA and was referred to as the "Highway Watch" program.

A report by the Homeland Security inspector general found that over 10 months the program administered by ATA spent nearly $10 million on administration and marketing, even though it had only about 14 direct employees. The report also indicates that ATA was using the program as an advertising vehicle.

The program is supposed to train truck drivers as well as other transportation professionals, to recognize potential safety and security threats. It was established in response to the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001. The State of Georgiarequires this training prior to issuing a CDL. Probably others do too or will soon follow.

So a bunch of suits get paid phenomenal wages to develop a program that requires drivers to get training and they earn all the money. I got an idea – since the training is Internet based – I'll post the training on the web – look for suspicious stuff – pay drivers $100 dollars to take the one hour course – pretty good pay – and in one year there will be 150,000 drivers with a 'Highway Watch" certificate – you print it out from my site. If you see something suspicious, call 911 and say this is a "Highway Watch" report. All the 911 operators report to Homeland Security once a month so a big report can be compiled. In 36 months there will be 450,000 trained drivers. Hell, most drivers report suspicious stuff all the time for free. I'll bet most consider it their responsibility as Americans.

Better yet give drivers a tax break for taking the course – that could be worth more than the $100 and would help drivers that are struggling.

Instead there will be some huge program where rich folks get richer and the guy at the bottom does all the work. If you think I might be right, please copy this and forward it to your elected representative (Representative) (Senator)– tell them George Wilkins asked you to do it! I get tired of crap like this – they're wasting our money!