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ANGELS, FROM PAGE 43 a wheelchair from a massive flood in a housing community. He has been driving trucks since he was 16, but now drives full time and is based outside of Biloxi, Mississippi. “I’ve always been very busy, active, and drawn to high-stress occupations and situations, which is what has kept me so healthy,” shared Peters. “It keeps my awareness up; high-stress situations come naturally for me. Jimi Hendrix playing guitar is the way I handle stress. It’s like me breathing air! I’ve done it all my life, (and) I don’t even recognize it as stress. I just go out and do what I have to do.” Josh Elmore Elmore, who lives in Lincolnton, North Carolina, and drives for ABF Freight, was recognized for helping a driver after his vehicle collided with a dump truck. This is his second set of Highway Angel wings. Elmore also assisted a motorist on February 20, 2015, after her car caught fire. It was a summer morning and Elmore was northbound on U.S. Highway 220 near Madison, North Carolina. “I was talking to another driver and checking my mirrors and my speed,” shared Elmore. “All of a sudden, I saw a big cloud of smoke or dust in front of me. I realized there was a dump truck and car that had made contact.” The car was spinning around ahead of Elmore in the left lane, and the dump truck was in the right lane. “The car hit the guardrail,” he recalled. “I started getting on my brakes to slow and stop and make sure cars behind me didn’t hit him. My first reaction was to stop, protect the scene, and then go check on the driver. I threw my hazards on and came to a stop, blocking traffic in the left lane.” As Elmore jumped out, a power company truck stopped traffic in the right lane. He could see that the dump truck went around the bend and pulled over. Elmore ran to check on the driver in the car. “There was debris all over the road,” he said. “The driver’s airbags had deployed and I didn’t know what to expect.” As Elmore approached the car, he was relieved to see the driver was maneuvering out of the vehicle. “I checked him for injuries and asked him several times if he was okay,” said Elmore. “He was able to walk around, but was shaken up. He said he was on his way to Raleigh for a business meeting.” Elmore remained on the scene for about an hour. He shared that he’s been in a wreck before and understands what it’s like. “I try to help people when I can, show some compassion,” he shared. “Whatever happens, I hope I’m never in too much of a hurry to stop and help somebody. I try to live by that code every day. That’s the way I was raised.” Gene Miller Miller, who lives in Blue Springs, Missouri, and drives for ABF Freight, was recognized for stopping to help a family after their vehicle struck a deer and overturned. It was shortly after 6 a.m. on June 6 and Miller was northbound on Interstate 35 near Wellington, Kansas, on his way to Wichita. He was traveling behind a family in an SUV. “As we were going along, I looked up the road and saw a deer on the southbound side standing by the concrete divider,” he recalled. Miller hoped the deer wouldn’t jump the wall, but it did. Miller said the driver of the SUV swerved to the right but couldn’t avoid striking the deer. The vehicle hit the guardrail on the right shoulder, bounced off, hit the concrete wall divider under a bridge, and rolled over onto its roof. The vehicle then slid toward the right lane and Miller had to do a harsh brake to avoid T-boning it. “I grabbed my phone and headset and ran back,” said Miller. A woman and young girl were climbing out of the vehicle. The woman told him that her husband was still inside. Miller directed them to stand by the wall and then went to check on the driver. “He said he thought he had a broken leg. I crawled in and looked and discovered the man had a compound fracture by his ankle,” Miller shared with TCA. Miller already had 911 on the line and relayed the location of the accident and condition of the occupants. “By then, another truck driver stopped and we were trying to keep the driver calm,” he said. “His daughter, who was about 10 or 12, was really getting hysterical, afraid the car would catch fire and blow up. We assured her everything was okay, but the driver wanted us to get him out to ease her fears. So, we slid him out, taking it easy, and moved him over to the concrete wall.” Other cars were going around the accident. “A couple of them, you could see on their faces that they knew them,” said Miller. “They stopped and came over. I assume it was maybe a girls’ softball team or something and they were traveling together. They consoled the mother and daughter while the other driver and I stayed with the father. He told me this was his first accident. I said, ‘You sure made it a doozy,’ and he chuckled. I knew he didn’t want to hit the deer, but you don’t swerve to miss a deer. This is what happens.” angels In the News As TCA continues to elevate the Highway Angel program, numerous media channels have showcased these incredible drivers: Bruno Filipe Da Costa Raposo was featured in an article in Truckers News headlined “Driver honored for stopping man’s suicide attempt” after the Bison Transport driver helped prevent a man from jumping off a bridge near Amarillo, Texas, onto the roadway below. “Kelowna truck driver named ‘Highway Angel’” read the headline in the Penticton Western News in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. The article by Daniel Taylor told about professional truck driver Donna Wright’s heroic efforts after coming up on a semi-truck rollover along the Trans-Canada Highway. Josh Elmore was the subject of an article “ABF Freight driver named TCA Highway Angel” in the Southwest Times Record of Fort Smith, Arkansas, about Elmore’s heroic efforts for stopping to help a driver after the driver’s car collided with a dump truck. Details of these drivers’ efforts are shared in this edition of Truckload Authority. 44 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2021
Donna Wright Wright, who lives in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, and drives for Challenger, was recognized for stopping at the scene of an accident and rushing to dispatch first responders. Wright has been team driving with her husband, Geoffrey, for four years. On June 6 around 5:30 a.m., she was behind the wheel as Geoffrey slept in the sleeper berth. They were eastbound from Vancouver to Ontario on the Trans-Canada Highway. “It was just starting to get light out as we approached Salmon Arm (British Columbia),” shared Wright. “I noticed there was a lot of mud strewn across the highway.” Looking farther ahead, she was alarmed to see a semi–truck 20 feet off the side of the road in a marshy area with the tractor on its side. The driver had just missed a concrete barrier. Wright put her hazards on, pulled over, and then grabbed her headset as she jumped out of the cab. “My heart was racing,” she recalled. “I knew in my heart of hearts that I needed to do what I could, but I don’t deal well with tragedy or blood.” In fact, she can become faint in a moment. “The best thing I could do was to call 911 and get them dispatched,” she said. While Wright knew she couldn’t get too close, she called out to the driver to see if he was okay and if there was anyone else in the cab. About that time, a driver in a pickup truck pulled over to the side of the road. As he ran down into the marsh, the truck driver emerged and was able to pull himself out of the truck. “He was coherent and was able to answer questions and didn’t appear to have any serious injuries,” said Wright. Police and an ambulance arrived minutes later. Wright said Geoffrey slept through all of it. “I did wake him up afterward,” she said with a laugh. “He was actually quite taken aback that I would do that because of my fear of blood — a little scratch on my finger and I pass out,” she quipped. “He was quite pleased with me. I’m glad I could do that for a fellow driver. I would hope someone would do that for me if something were to happen.” For their willingness to assist fellow drivers and motorists, TCA has presented each newly awarded Highway Angel with a certificate, patch, lapel pin, and truck decals. Their employers have also received a certificate acknowledging their driver as a Highway Angel. To nominate a driver or to meet additional recipients, visit highwayangel.com or search the hashtag #HighwayAngel on social-media networks. STILL TIME TO JOIN SECOND COHORT According to the National Safety Council, every seven seconds a worker is injured on the job, totaling more than 104 million production days lost due to workplace injuries. Eager to mitigate risk? Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from industry expert, Jetco Delivery CEO and acclaimed author Brian Fielkow, as he facilitates an upcoming Making Safety Happen offering — an exclusive Truckload Carriers Association (TCA)-member benefit for trucking companies of all sizes. In September 2020, TCA announced a new collaboration with Fielkow, one which offers TCA members the opportunity to attend online courses and instructor-led VIP workshops. As with the first round of courses, TCA members access all benefits for only $850, which is a savings of nearly $1,200. The hands-on course offers six 30-minute online sessions that will share tools that can be immediately customized and applied to any business: • Establish safety as a “core-porate” value; • Decipher when good can be bad: Identify and eliminate safety dysfunctions; • Engage your front-line team in the company’s safety mission; • Create a just culture and ensure accountability for safe outcomes; • Apply the power of process; and • Utilize the right metrics: Capture the leading indicators and practice prevention. In addition to the six online courses, Making Safety Happen participants will have the opportunity to attend workshops led by Fielkow: • Session 1: Safety Values vs. Priorities: Identifying Your Safety Gaps, Thursday, January 14, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET; • Session 2: Eliminating Your Safety Dysfunctions, Thursday, February 4, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET; • Session 3: Engaging Employees in Your Safety Mission, Thursday, March 4, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET; • Session 4: Creating Accountabilities for Safe Behaviors, Thursday, April 1, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET; • Session 5: Eliminating Shortcuts and Creating a Process that Your Team Understands, Thursday, May 6, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET; and • Session 6: Identifying the Right Metrics to Assess Safety Performance, Thursday, June 3, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET. In addition, participants will receive an invitation to Safety VIP Trucking in the Round Sessions during Truckload 2021, as well as the opportunity to attend quarterly Safety in the Round webinars. Special thanks to our Presenting Sponsor, DriverReach, for their support. To learn more or to get started, contact TCA@truckload.org. TCA 2021 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 45
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