Shawn Hubbard, a professional driver who saved the life of a young man trapped inside a burning car, was named 2010 Highway Angel by the Truckload Carriers Association.


Hubbard, who drives for Ruan Transport Corp., Des Moines, Iowa, will be the third Highway Angel of the Year to be recognized at the uDrove Humanitarian Bowl, on Dec. 18 at Boise State University in Idaho. The game is a post-season, NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football contest.

Hubbard's story begins on Nov. 13, 2009, at 3:35 a.m. He had just made a delivery and was heading east on Interstate 60 in California when he came across a car on fire. The car appeared to have smashed into several steel poles and had come to rest in a ditch against a 40-foot high embankment.

Two people were still inside the vehicle: the driver, who appeared to be dead, and a passenger, who was still alive but pinned on all sides by the crushed car body. Using two fire extinguishers, Hubbard slowed the flames, but could not fully extinguish them.

Pushed by adrenaline, Hubbard pulled the debris and collapsed roof off the car so the passenger could escape. Screaming at him to move quickly regardless of the pain, Hubbard got the heavy-set man out and pushed him up the hill to safety, seconds before flames fully engulfed the car.

The California Highway Patrol was so impressed that it later presented him with a Certificate of Commendation. He also received an award from a Los Angeles County supervisor and a Gold "R" certificate from Ruan.

"What Hubbard did was extraordinary, but even more incredible is the fact that throughout the entire event, hundreds of cars passed by on the busy seven-lane highway, but - other than the truck driver who originally called 911 and someone who tossed a second fire extinguisher down the embankment to Hubbard - not a single person stopped to help," said John Kaburick, TCA chairman and president of Earl L. Henderson Trucking Co., Salem, Ill.

The decision to name Hubbard as the 2010 Highway Angel of the Year was made by the TCA Communications & Image Policy Committee, which oversees the Highway Angel program.

As the Highway Angel of the Year, Hubbard will be flown to the uDrove (formerly Roady's) Humanitarian Bowl, accompanied by Ralph Arthur, president of Dedicated Contract Carriage for Ruan Transport, After his story is told, he will receive a trophy in front of an audience anticipated to be 34,000 people .

The event is expected to attract massive publicity for the Highway Angel program, furthering its goal of educating the public about the good deeds that professional truck drivers do every day in the course of their jobs, organizers of the group say.

Highway Angels nominations are accepted year-round. To nominate a driver or read stories about previous Highway Angels, visit www.truckload.org/Highway-Angel. For more information on the program in general, contact TCA at (703) 838-1950 or via e-mail at Angel@truckload.org.