Truckload Carriers Association 2014 Driver of the Year Competition Winners

Last week at its annual convention, the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) and its partner Randall-Reilly of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, announced the names of the two professional truck drivers who have earned grand prizes in the 2014 Driver of the Year competition. The Owner Operator of the Year is Thomas Miller of Bunker Hill, Illinois, who is leased to Prime, Inc., of Springfield, Missouri. The Company Driver of the Year is Gary Teel of Whiting, Iowa, who drives for Weinrich Truck Line of Hinton, Iowa.

The prestigious annual contests, sponsored by Love’s Travel Stops of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, along with Cummins Inc. of Columbus, Indiana, recognize the top company drivers and owner operators in the U.S. and Canada who provide reliable and safe truck transportation in moving the nation's goods. The overall winners are selected from the six finalists based on safe driving, efforts to enhance the public image of the trucking industry, and positive contributions to the winners’ local communities. For the owner operator candidates, business skills are also judged.

Both men will receive a $25,000 cash prize for their achievements. Jon Archard, vice president of sales for Love’s Travel Stops, said, “This is a unique opportunity to give back to professional truck drivers and show them how much we, as an industry, value them. Love’s is honored to show our appreciation for the hard work they do day in and day out by being the platinum sponsor of the cash prize.”

Miller, who has been leased to Prime, Inc., for more than 15 years, has traveled 2.7 million miles without an accident. He is a former captain of America’s Road Team, a national public outreach program led by a small group of professional truck drivers who share superior driving skills, remarkable safety records, and a strong desire to spread the word about safety on the highway. Other notable achievements have included being selected as the Missouri Trucking Association’s Driver of the Month and earning several safety awards from that organization as well as from Prime, Inc.

Miller is an avid participant in the Missouri Trucking Association’s Truck Driving Championships, where he has competed for 15 years in a row. He has also competed twice at the National Truck Driving Championships. In his spare time, he likes to volunteer with his daughter’s little league softball teams and a church youth group.

When asked to describe Miller, Robert Low, president and founder of Prime Inc., said: “We can always count on Thomas to deliver on-time and safely each and every time. He exemplifies the attributes that I value in our associates.”

Gary Teel, the Company Driver of the Year winner, has driven more than 3.6 million, accident-free miles during his 26 years with Weinrich Truck Line. His supervisors note that he is loyal, detail-oriented, and very knowledgeable about the equipment he operates. The ability to form positive relationships with others comes easily to Teel, who he is known for going above and beyond when it comes to performing his job to the best of his ability. In 2014, he was named the Iowa Motor Truck Association’s Driver of the Year.
He has the most longevity of any professional truck driver at that company and was recently awarded a brand new tractor to drive as a reward for his many years of safe motoring.

According to Donna Weinrich-Lucht, company president and CEO, “Gary is on time with his loads, pleasant with our customers, and helpful with our other drivers. Safety is always his goal, as you can tell by his safe driving record. He takes pride in taking care of our equipment and especially the tractor he is assigned. Witnessing Gary’s excitement and pride when he received [our] truck will certainly go down as one of the highlights in the 54-year history of our company.”

“It has been such a pleasure meeting these outstanding professional drivers,” said Shepard Dunn, TCA’s 2014-15 chairman and the president and CEO of Bestway Express, Inc., of Vincennes, Indiana. “They showcase the very best that trucking has to offer.”

For further information on the competition, please visitwww.truckload.org/Driver-of-the-Year and follow TCA on Facebook—www.truckload.org/Facebook—and Twitter—www.truckload.org/Twitter.

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Carrier of the Month
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FMCSA Should Heed Calls to Fix CSA
Safety Scoring System’s Flaws Again Exposed by Key Senator and GAO Report

The American Trucking Associations called on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to make important changes to its Compliance, Safety, Accountability system following criticisms from a key Senator and the Government Accountability Office.

In a recent hearing before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security, the GAO chided FMCSA for ignoring its criticisms about the quality and quantity of data used to generate CSA scores, and recommended “FMCSA revise the SMS methodology to better account for limitations in available information when drawing comparisons of safety performance across carriers.”

During the hearing, FMCSA was also criticized by Chairman Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) for disregarding “the views of Congress, stakeholders and several independent agencies with its current agenda-driven approach to regulating our nation’s truckers.”

GAO’s testimony dramatically makes the point that “FMCSA’s method does not effectively identify high risk carriers,” yet the watchdog noted that FMCSA “has not taken action to address our recommendations to better account for the limitations in the CSA program.”

“Yesterday, the flaws in CSA were again highlighted and again the agency insisted it will do nothing to correct them,” ATA President & CEO Bill Graves said. “FMCSA should not just hear the concerns expressed by Senator Fischer and the GAO, but address them with real action.”