Several states will be in the spotlight as the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) looks to raise awareness about human trafficking.
The agency’s Your Roads, Their Freedom campaign is national, but will focus on states with the highest number of reported human trafficking cases or high traffic volumes, the administration said in a bulletin. These include California, Florida, Michigan, New York, and North Carolina, among others.
(Source: FMCSA)
Truck drivers are already part of the fight. They made more than 1,400 calls to the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline from December 2007 through June 2016, identifying 452 potential human trafficking cases.
“Human trafficking is a heinous crime, and it has no place in the transportation industry,” said FMCSA Administrator Robin Hutcheson. “But the hard-hitting reality is that our nation’s transportation systems are exploited by human traffickers every day, and FMCSA is working to help stop it.”
States are required to ban drivers convicted of human trafficking from operating a commercial motor vehicle.
