NASHVILLE, Tennessee—Trucker Path, a mobile app that helps drivers find truck-friendly routes, safe parking, and amenities nationwide, is now helping raise awareness to combat human trafficking, the company announced during a press conference at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition here.
Trucker Path’s app now features a TAT (formerly Truckers Against Trafficking) function to help drivers report suspected human trafficking.
“You may or may not know there are millions around the globe who are victims of either sex or labor trafficking, and hundreds of thousands right here in the United States—many of them are women and children,” Esther Goetsch, TAT executive director, said Oct. 13. “Victims are often in sexual exploitation, ripped out of their homes, out of the foster care system, out of schools, off streets, and then sold for sex on a daily basis."
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“The opportunity that frontline employees have—particularly truck drivers and truck stop employees—is just immense in helping to recognize potential victims, potential human trafficking cases, and report those to the authority,” she continued. "To date, TAT has trained over 1.9 million industry professionals with our free industry-specific training materials. Our resources and training will always be offered free of charge to the industry.”
Trucker Path and ATA’s Women In Motion partnered last year to promote the safety of professional female truck drivers on the road by identifying truck stops with key amenities identified as necessities by female drivers. There are now 320 truck stops qualifying as having at least one of the seven amenities, including lighted parking, lounge areas, showers, bathrooms, laundry facilities, and 24/7 security and maintenance.
Chris Oliver, CMO of Trucker Path, said the TAT addition is about harnessing the power of his app’s growing community of drivers to combat this crime that relies on transportation. Established in 2009, TAT’s mission is to educate, equip, empower, and mobilize industries and agencies to combat human trafficking.
The Trucker Path app now includes a tile with information on how to report trafficking and a brief explanation of the mission. This newly added feature will extend the reach of TAT information to Trucker Path users and enable them to easily access the information they need to report a suspected human trafficking event.
“We are proud to be able to use our platform to help TAT reach the one million professional truck drivers who use the Trucker Path app,” Oliver said. “Spreading the word about their mission aligns perfectly with our goal of being a conduit for information from great organizations like TAT and WIM.”
