by Alyssa Kirkman, on Oct 20, 2026
Every so often, a new introduction on Engage does more than say hello, it opens a door into a corner of the industry a lot of us don't hear enough about. This month, two new members did exactly that. View the thread
A Question That Started a Conversation
Jessica Williams joined WIT from the TREDS Center at UC San Diego, where she develops safety training programs for commercial drivers, work that's taken her deep into distracted driving prevention, substance-impaired driving, and CMV safety regulations. She's not a driver herself, but her introduction asked drivers directly: what's missing from safety education today?
The thread didn't stay quiet for long. One member pointed to health and wellness as an underused piece of driver training, things like nutrition, stretching, and rest built into orientation from day one. Another pushed further, calling for more hands-on, real-world training: recognizing hazards early, navigating tight truck stops, and understanding how fatigue affects decision-making on the road. Two different angles, same instinct, that the best safety training doesn't just live in a classroom.
Bringing an Outside Lens In
Megan Barder came to trucking a different way. She's spent the past three years in Organizational Development at Votorantim Cimentos, a global cement company, after years in other industries. Raised alongside four sisters by a mother who modeled independence and resilience, she's built a career around developing and advocating for women, and she brought that lens straight into her introduction with a question: how do we attract more women into this industry when they're already out there, just hard to find?
One member had a theory: maybe it's not that women aren't interested, it's that they haven't been introduced to the opportunity yet, especially in less-visible corners of trucking like cement and concrete hauling.
Two new members, two questions worth sitting with. Head over to Engage to read the full thread and add your own perspective, drivers and non-drivers alike.
Join the conversation on Engage.
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