DUBLIN, VA (Aug. 18, 1998) - Three million miles. It’s a distance equal to 120 trips around the Earth’s equator, or 536 round trips from Los Angeles to New York. It takes the average trucker about 25 years to reach the 3 million mile mark. For the average auto driver, it would take 150 years.
Roadway Express honored 55 drivers who reached that milestone without an accident, in ceremonies at Volvo’s New River Valley truck assembly plant. The veteran drivers each received the keys to a new Volvo VNM with their name and a special “3 Million Miles Safe Driver” logo on the door, permanently assigned to them for as long as they are employed by Roadway. Forty-six drivers from as far away as Texas participated in the event, and most of them drove their new trucks home.
The ceremony opened with remarks from Marc Gustafson, president and CEO of Volvo Trucks North America; Mike Wickham, chairman and CEO of Roadway Express; and George Reagle, associate administrator for motor carriers at the Federal Highway Administration.
Wickham offered special recognition for Nick DeMichele, a city driver out of Roadway’s Kearny, NJ, terminal who has been with Roadway 39 years. DeMichele’s feat is even more remarkable, Wickham said, when you consider DeMichele accomplished this while driving in New York and New Jersey. “You can’t walk up there without bumping into something!” In fact, DeMichele is the only driver in Roadway’s 68-year history to have reached 3 million “pure” P&D miles.
Robert Clark of White Pine, Tennessee, has been with Roadway for 30 years. The secret to his safety record is “being a whole lot lucky and watching what you do,” he said. “You have to watch yourself, but most importantly, watch everything everyone else does.”