Tucson-based independent truck owner and operator Ed Godfrey has joined an elite club receiving his One Million Safe Miles driving award from Landstar System Inc.
Godfrey, 39, who specializes in extreme freight, is part of Landstar’s worldwide transportation network, built on its 8,500-truck fleet of owner-operators. Pulling oversized loads, specialized equipment, hazardous materials and high-value freight coast-to-coast in the Lower 48 states, Alaska and Canada, he has driven eleven crash-free years without a moving violation or a damaged freight claim.
He credits patience, his attention to detail, the maintenance of his highway heavy-use tractor and trailer, and a little luck for his safety record.
Godfrey has seen, up close, how tragedy strikes in a split-second on the highway. In the months between earning his reward and actually receiving it at the celebration ceremony, he witnessed a highway tractor pulling a 53-foot van trailer flip over in front of him on Interstate 20 in Texas, 50 miles west of Fort Worth.
“A quarter-of-a-mile ahead of me a pick-up truck blew its tire, lost control, and T-boned the tractor-trailer unit,” Godfrey explained. “I drive fifty-eight miles per hour and that gives me time to react.”
Slowing down, he says, “and taking every precaution that you can is more important than anything. Maintenance on your equipment affects everything as an Owner-Operator.”
Truck drivers typically drive about 120,000 miles a year, ten times more than the commuting motorist does. It takes about 10 years for a truck driver to reach the one million mile mark according to Landstar, which is equal to 357 trips from New York to Los Angeles or 2 round trips to the moon. In July of this year, 126 One Million Mile awards were presented at the 2014 Million Miler Banquet held in Savannah, Georgia.
“Their talent, hard work and dedication to safety are truly worthy of celebration,” said Landstar Chairman and CEO Henry Gerkens. “They make the roads safer for all of us.”
The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), a leader in truck-related crash research studied driver factors in fatal car-truck crashes and found that car drivers were responsible for 81% of crashes versus 27% of truck drivers.
Godfrey’s first trucking job was in August 1996. He writes a blog at Truckin' Ed, where he discusses business and safety issues related to trucking.
“If I were to teach a safe driving course I would focus on learning the skill of always being aware of your surroundings,” Godfrey says whose personal goal is to reach two million safe miles.
The U.S. freight market is worth more than $800 billion a year and long-haul truckers move more than a third of our goods.
###
Although Ed has driven over 2.5 million during his 18-year career, the Million Miler Award he received this year was specifically for achieving one million safe driving miles with the company he's currently leased to.
His receiving this award was recently published in our local paper - albeit in a much edited version of the original press release above - which was a surprise and delight to my mother (she's beaming with such pride, you'd think HE was her kid instead of me) and her WOW friends, one of who saw Ed in the paper and saved the clipping for him. Thanks, Judy!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2013: In A Time When Gentlemen And Ladies Actually Existed
2012: The Great Affair
2011: The Gaping Void Says It All
2010: Under The Tuscan Sun Within 3,000 Year Old Walls
2009: Dragged Back, Kicking And Screaming
2008: Seniors Maintain Law And Order By Way Of A Fluke Discovery
2007: Lisa Lavie Is The Angel Here
2006: Fight The Moth
2005: Abandoned But Not Forgotten
2 comments:
Congratulations to Trucker Ed! Well deserved.
Congratulations Ed! Hopefully, they'll give you a new tractor of your choice. Ha-Ha-Ha!!!
Post a Comment