The Truckload Carriers Association has recently named seven drivers Highway Angels for their efforts in helping other motorists while traveling across the country.
For being named Highway Angels, each driver receives a certificate, patch, lapel pin and truck decals by TCA, and their fleets also receive certificates that acknowledge that one of their drivers received the award.
A summary of each event that led to the drivers receiving the honor can be seen below.
McConachieMaverick Transportation driver Mark McConachie was named a Highway Angel for performing CPR on another trucker who was suffering a heart attack. McConachie witnessed the other driver fall backwards onto the ground while waiting to be loaded at a stop and administered CPR until an ambulance arrived.
MooreGreg Moore, an owner-operator for Landstar, earned the honor after he pulled a grandmother from a burning pickup. He saw a pickup take a corner too fast, leave the highway and hit a tree, then pulled over to help. He had to help a woman get her foot dislodged from under the brake pedal while flames began to come from underneath the truck.
AlemanCFI driver Jeff Aleman was able to pull another truck driver to safety after a collision at a truck stop. He heard the accident from inside his truck, and when he ran to see what happened, saw that one of the trucks was lodged under the other truck’s trailer. He was able to crawl into the smoke-filled cab and pull the driver out.
SohiCanadian driver Taljinder Sohi, a driver for Bison Transport, helped another trucker whose truck had jackknifed in British Columbia, Canada. He saw the truck lose control while going around a corner and jackknife, them got out and helped the driver get the truck turned off after seeing diesel leaking. He was able to pull the driver and another driver in the bunk out of the truck.
Leon-GuerreroOregon-based driver Danny Leon-Guerrero, who drivers for Central Oregon Truck Company, earned the honor by helping deliver a baby in a Pilot Flying J truck stop. Being a volunteer firefighter, he had never delivered a baby, but had enough medical training to be able to help a woman deliver her daughter.
GinterAnother CFI driver, Jerry Ginter, helped a man who was having a stroke while driving to earn the award. In a construction zone, a vehicle was traveling toward him when a woman got out to get his attention. When he went to check on the driver, the vehicle began moving again, and he had to get in the vehicle to take it out of gear. Another traveler stopped to help, and together they were able to get the keys out of the car and the car to the side of the road.
O’LearyBrian O’Leary, a driver for O’Leary’s Truck Service, earned the honor for helping a man suffering a heart attack. He witnessed a straight truck drive into the median before hitting a guardrail and coming to a stop in the middle of the road. He was able to perform CPR along with other motorists who stopped to help until an ambulance arrived.
