The Trucker Newspaper - April 15, 2018

10 • April 15-30, 2018 Nation
thetrucker.com
Courtesy: TCA
STEPHEN RICHARDSON
THE TRUCKER STAFF
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The Truckload Carriers
Association has named Stephen Richardson
as Company Driver of the Year and Philip
Keith as Owner-Operator of the Year.
The announcement came March 27 during the
awards banquet at TCA’s annual convention here.
Richardson, who lives in Decatur, Alabama,
drives for Big G Express of Shelbyville, Tennessee.
Long, who resides in Long Beach, Mississippi,
is leased to WEL Companies of Del Pere,
Wisconsin.
Both drivers received a $25,000 cash prize
for their achievements.
The annual contests recognize the top owner-operators
and company drivers 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
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-owner skills are also judged.
Safe transportation runs in Richardson’s
blood, as his father was a professional truck
driver and his mother was a school bus driver.
As a driver himself, Richardson has
amassed over 3.4 million accident-free miles
during his 27 years of professional truck driving,
including 17 with Big G Express.
b HOS from page 1 b
regulations need to be supported by good data.
While ATA believes that there are opportunities
to improve Hours of Service regulations to
provide additional flexibility while maintaining
safety, we don’t believe that there is sufficient
data at this time to support the types of changes
proposed by the REST Act,” said Sean McNally,
vice president of communications and press
secretary at ATA. “However, with the deadline
to comply with the electronic logging device
requirement now passed, it is our hope that we
will soon have enough hard data from ELDs to
support possible improvements and reforms to
the HOS rules. We also hope that in the interim,
all links in the supply chain — drivers, shippers
PHILIP KEITH
Courtesy: TCA
Stephen Richardson, Philip Keith are named
company and o-o Drivers of the Year by TCA
In 2013, he was named Big G’s first-ever
Driver of the Year recipient, and he has also
been named the Tennessee Trucking Association’s
2014 Tennessee Driver of the Year and a
2017-18 America’s Road Team Captain for the
American Trucking Associations.
In addition to his successes as a driver,
Richardson has lost 55 pounds by walking
three to four miles on the treadmill every day
and watching his sugar and carb intake.
Keith has been involved in trucking for 34
years as a terminal manager, dispatcher and
customer service representative.
His honors include the Wisconsin Motor
Carriers Association Driver of the Year 2016,
19-year Safety Award from WEL Companies
and three separate Best in Show honors in the
World’s Largest Truck Convoy.
Along with the other member of his driving
team, his wife Eva, Keith participates in the
Trucker Buddy International program. A U.S.
Marine Corps veteran, world traveler, and father,
Keith said he believes that giving back to
his fellow drivers and citizens helps make his
job easier.
Each of the runners-up in both categories
received checks for $2,500. They are: company
drivers Donald Lewis of Wilson Logistics and
Roger Wyble of Maverick Transportation LLC;
and owner-operators Kevin Kocmich, leased to
Diamond Transportation System Inc., and Bryan
Smith, leased to Art Pape Transfer Inc. 8
and carriers — work together to maintain a safe
and efficient environment for moving the nation’s
freight.”
“We thank Rep. Babin for recognizing the
need to address the lack of options for truckers
trying to safely operate under today’s overly
rigid federal regulations,” said Todd Spencer,
acting president and CEO of OOIDA. “We
want to see improvements to highway safety
and what we have right now isn’t going to get
that done.”
This is not Babin’s first time to try and impact
trucking regulations.
Last year, he introduced a bill to delay implementation
of electronic logging devices.
With his bill caught in the usual Congressional
quagmire, Babin appealed directly to
President Donald Trump to delay the December
18 implementation date. 8