I think I was six years old when my interest in driving started. Well, at least that’s when my dad had me driving around our farm on various pieces of equipment. He just threw me out there and let me go. I had to think and react on my feet and learn in real time, which helped build my confidence and shaped me into the competitor that I am today. I took that competitive spirit and confidence with me when I started flying airplanes at 16, began driving commercially at 18 and did some road course racing in my early 20s. Today, I’ve driven more than one million accident-free miles as a truck driver. I’ve found success — particularly at the National Truck Driving Championships — because I make every effort to do my best through hard work and homework and by taking advantage of the support of my company.

Participating in the National Truck Driving Championships (NTDC) is appealing because it provides an opportunity to pursue my professional and personal interests. Plus, it provides an extra incentive to work hard, and put in a lot of effort and practice, to improve upon the year before — and that energizes me. I guess that’s probably apparent since this is my 12^th year competing at the state level and my ninth year in the national championship. So far I’m proud to say I’ve taken home four national titles and two Grand Champion wins. I’m also proud of those numerous occasions where I was a contender to win but didn’t due to the very smallest of mistakes. I say this because I learn from every one — and work hard to overcome them in the future.

There isn’t a single solution to the challenges you face at competitions. Over the years, I’ve developed techniques to maneuver through problems in any number of ways. I’ve learned this not only from my experience competing but also from the situations I encounter on a daily basis over the road and on my own time. In a way, that’s homework. I build my own barriers to practice parallel parking after work. I practice blindside back-ins.

For me, winning at the state and national levels takes 50 percent driving skill and 50 percent strategy. You’ve got to read the course and take advantage of reference points to know when to turn, when to stop and how best to enter and exit each problem — because that move leads you right into the next problem. Every step you take has to be well thought out. I associate driving competitions with flying airplanes. Ninety-five percent of your experience should be getting the right approach down. If your approach to landing isn’t done well, the landing isn’t going to be smooth.

There is no one “correct” way to prepare for these competitions, but I think drivers need two things: one, a desire to compete. You have to want it. And two, developing an approach that’s most comfortable for you.

I’m very strong in science, math and physics so I put a lot of that into how I learn and practice. I run the course several times in my mind. I visually measure the trucks and associate them with the course and how it’s laid out. I also tap into my notes and research, which keeps me cool, calm and collected. I make the bulk of my strategic decisions about how to approach the course far before I drive it. For me it’s a mental game. In competition, you get one chance … not five or six … to make the right decision. So you’ve got to practice and make adjustments along the way.

One of the keys to winning is learning from your mistakes and then trying not to repeat them. It’s a great feeling competing, to win and be named Grand Champion. There really aren’t words to describe it. It’s the thrill of competing against the best of the best, and it’s a showcase to demonstrate to ourselves, the industry and the motoring public that we’re professionals, we’re skilled and safe, and we take our jobs seriously.

If I’ve learned one thing from my participation, it’s that competing makes everyone better. It’s great to see more drivers become involved — thousands compete on the state level, while more than 400 compete at the nationals — because that means they are becoming more confident, skilled, knowledgeable and safe. A good thing for everyone.

Most people would agree that a driving habit which makes you 23 more times likely to become involved in a traffic crash is inherently extremely dangerous.  Common sense would tell you to avoid at all costs any activity that puts you at such serious risk.  Yet only 38 U.S. states have so far taken steps to address the problem.

I’m referring, of course, to texting while driving.

In Missouri, our administration, led by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, has taken an interesting approach to combating this dangerous habit – one that we hope more states will follow. First, we banned all texting while operating a motor vehicle for drivers 21 and under. This is the age group responsible for the largest proportion of distracted driving-related fatalities.

Second, we developed a special “No Driving While Texting” graphic, which we are giving out as a “window cling” decal to motorists, schools and business around the state. It’s a visible reminder to put down your PDA and focus 100% on the task of driving.

Third, we launched a public service campaign, introducing the “no texting” logo with a formal kickoff event in St. Louis, our largest city, on July 16. The message: we want every motorist – regardless of age – to stop texting while driving. To help promote the message, Con-way Freight and Roush Fenway Racing joined us in the cause, prominently displaying our “no texting” logo on the hood of the No. 16 Con-way Freight Ford Fusion race car driven by Colin Braun at the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Gateway International Raceway July 17. Colin had his best finish of the year at that race, and we like to think the new logo brought him luck.

Missouri’s motto is the “Show Me” state, but we hope in this case we’re providing an example that other states will embrace. Cell phone usage while driving contributed to more than 1,780 traffic crashes in Missouri in 2009, more than any other form of distracted driving. In the first half of 2010, there were 791 traffic crashes related to the use of cell phones behind the wheel, resulting in eight fatalities and 239 injuries. Additionally, in this same time period, there were 17,535 crashes where distracted driving was cited as a contributing cause.

Too often our troopers witness the tragic end-results of distracted driving. Of all the actions that cause traffic crashes, this is one area where a simple decision by every motorist can immediately make our highways safer. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics, nearly 6,000 people died in accidents caused by distracted driving during 2008. How many is too many?

We would like to invite every other state highway patrol organization in the U.S. to join us in this important public safety campaign. Start your own campaign to encourage all your state’s motorists to put down their phones while driving. We’ve got the template in place and we’re happy to share, and I’m sure our partners Con-way Freight and Roush Fenway Racing would lend their support to you as they did to the citizens of Missouri.

Highway Patrol and local police vehicles get a lot of visibility out on the roads, and simply displaying the message is an effort worth making. If even one person sees the logo and stops texting even one time, our highways will be a little bit safer that day.

Col. Ron Replogle is Superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. He has been a state trooper in Missouri for nearly 27 years.

If you are a track and field fan, as I am, you know that Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is the fastest human being on earth.  Some say that the man can really fly!

The three-time Olympic gold medalist personally holds the world records in the 100 and 200 meter dashes.  His speedy accomplishments have spawned a knock-off commercial for a well known communication provider that depicts a sprinter texting while running out ahead of his competition.  In the end, the sprinter, despite texting and running at the same time, wins the race without ever running out of his lane.

If only it were that easy in real life when driving.

The safety problem associated with texting while driving is big news in today’s world.  States as well as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration are quickly enacting laws to ban the use of cell phones and restrict any type of texting while driving.  Safety advocates are coming out of their seats to reiterate what many studies have revealed – that the combination of texting and driving is profoundly dangerous.

A recent study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute using long-haul truck drivers concluded that when drivers texted while driving, their collision risk was 23 times greater than when not texting.  Though the study did not include passenger vehicles, researchers agree that the findings apply to all drivers.

It’s hard not to agree that the two behaviors are incompatible bedfellows, but very few people have looked at the science behind the issue – which presents a very interesting story.

There are three basic types of distractions: visual, manual and cognitive.  While all driving distractions have some degree of risk, texting is the most dangerous because it involves all three types of distractions.  Drivers who text while driving are guilty of taking their eyes off the road, at least one hand off of the steering wheel, and their focus off of driving.

Research shows that drivers take their eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds out of every 6 seconds while texting.  At 55 miles per hour, texting drivers will travel the length of a football field, including the end zones, without looking at the road!

If you are bird in flight, you may be able to get away with this risk, since millions of years of evolution have given birds the sharp visual acuity to recognize and react to objects at high speed.  But man was not meant to fly.  Physiologically, man was designed to travel on two legs. Even Usain Bolt, when setting the world speed record, was clocked at a mere 27 miles per hour.  Hardly the requisite speed for flight.

Not all of us can run as fast as Usain.  The average top running speed for most of us is about 14 miles per hour.  When we get behind the wheel of a car, we experience some of the same sensations of flying such as speed and centrifugal force.  But as we begin to move at speeds greater that what we are built to adapt to, it becomes more difficult to react in time to increasing speeds.

Herein lays one of the scientific rubs.  A little phenomenon referred to as the flicker fusion factor separates man from birds when it comes to reaction times and speed.

The flicker fusion factor is a concept in the psychophysics of vision.  It is defined as the frequency at which an intermittent light beam appears to be completely steady to the observer.  Humans have a flicker fusion frequency of 60 cycles per second.  Birds have a much greater frequency allowing them to fly and navigate a forest of trees while chasing their prey at high speeds without the benefit of speed limits, traffic signals, and lane restrictions.

Unlike our eyes, which make up 1% of the total weight of our heads, the eyes of a bird are the largest organ in size relative to their bodies of all animals.  Birds also rely on a much greater peripheral vision than we as humans have, truly providing a bird’s eye view.

If you aren’t feeling totally inferior just yet, a white paper from the National Safety Council illustrates that the human brain cannot multitask.  Our brain can juggle tasks very rapidly, but it can only perform one task at a time.  A person who is texting while driving is overloading their brain requiring divided attention.

As motorists, the faster we drive above our 14 miles per hour speed limit, the more we are incapable of escaping our own physiological limitations that separate ourselves from our high-flying friends.  Add in the extra distraction of texting while driving to a single-tasking brain, and you have a potential deadly mix that is beyond our physical control.

If you are still not convinced, try remembering the last time that you witnessed a bird crashing into a tree!

In the end, it is nothing to be ashamed of.  After all, we are only human.