WESTLAKE, Ohio -- TravelCenters of America LLC, operator of the TA and Petro Stopping Centers travel center brands, has announced its first annual Citizen Driver Award recipients during the 2014 Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky. The Citizen Driver Award recognizes professional drivers who evoke respect for the truck driving profession.
TravelCenters launched the Citizen Driver program in the spring of 2013 in an effort to honor the many great, hardworking professional truck drivers moving loads to keep the economy going. Citizen Drivers not only have an exemplary career in trucking, they are great examples of the kind of people who honor the great profession of truck driving. By demonstrating their good citizenship, safety, community involvement and leadership, they are "shining examples of all of the hard-working men and women in this industry with whom there is pride in being associated."
Each driver has picked their favorite TA or Petro Stopping Centers location, which the company will rename after them. Along with the many semi-finalists and finalists, Citizen Drivers also received a Citizen Driver Award package from TA and Petro.
- Henry Albert: TA Laredo, Texas; "Henry Albert Laredo Travel Center."
- Jimmy Ardis: TA Manning, S.C.; "Jimmy Ardis Manning Travel Center."
- Linda and Bob Caffee: Petro N. Las Vegas; "Linda & Bob Caffee North Las Vegas Stopping Center."
- Charley Endorf: Petro York, Neb.; "Charley Endorf York Stopping Center."
- Jerry Fritts: Petro West Memphis, Ark.; "Jerry Fritts West Memphis Stopping Center."
- Shawn Hubbard: Petro Ontario, Calif.; "Shawn Hubbard Ontario Stopping Center."
- Norman Knight: TA Columbia, N.J.; "Norman Knight Columbia Travel Center."
"There are 3 million professional truck drivers in the U.S.," said Tom O'Brien, president and CEO of TravelCenters. "Their impact on the average American's life is largely unknown and underappreciated."
He continued, "Consider that these professional drivers delivered 67% of the total domestic tonnage in 2012, representing 81% of the nation's freight value. They deliver nearly everything our nation consumes or uses on a daily basis, including food, clothing, gasoline, building materials, automobiles, medicines, electronics and raw materials, to name a few. They make those deliveries to every major city and small town across the country, enduring all types of weather and driving conditions. We are extremely proud to play a role in support of the companies and drivers that make up the great truck driving industry. Our Citizen Driver Award is a way to recognize the best of the best, not just for being good at their jobs, but for being good people that everyone, everywhere, both inside and outside of trucking, can admire and respect."
TravelCenters accepted nominations for the Citizen Driver Award throughout last year, and it received nominations from a wide variety of people--fleet owners and executives, other drivers, friends, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, trucking organization members and trucking industry suppliers--wanting to recognize the deserving drivers who have touched their lives. Distinguished members of the trucking industry, including representatives from Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the American Trucking Association, the Truckload Carriers Association, Women in Trucking and four members from the trucking industry's print and broadcasting media core, judged the submitted nominations and selected the winners who excelled in the identified categories.
O'Brien added, "The professional and personal standards held by this year's Citizen Driver Award recipients are the same standards held by thousands of fellow professional drivers across this nation. We are looking forward to awarding Citizen Driver status to as many of these fine individuals as we can for years to come."
TravelCenters of America, Westlake, Ohio, is a leading travel center business in 43 states and Canada operating under the TA and Petro Stopping Centers brands. With 249 full-service locations off interstate highway exits, TA and Petro Stopping Centers offer customers diesel and gasoline fueling services, more than 500 full- and quick-service restaurants, 24-hour convenience stores, heavy-truck maintenance services, RoadSquad Connect (24/7/365 emergency roadside service), Reserve-It (truck parking reservations) and other services within large, high-traffic facilities. It also operates gasoline/convenience stores in Kentucky and Tennessee under the Minit Mart brand name.
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