Overnite Vet Named Driver of the Year
HOUSTON — Tommie Hawks remembers the rain-drenched night on Interstate 55 in Missouri like it was yesterday, even though it was nearly seven years ago.
The safety lesson has stuck in his mind. The 49 year-old Memphis, Tenn., resident, who hasn’t received so much as a speeding ticket since then, was honored Oct. 13 as Driver of the Year by the Safety Management Council of American Trucking Associations. Hawks, named Driver of the Year by the Tennessee Trucking Association earlier this year, beat out 49 other state drivers for the honor, receiving the ATA trophy and a $1,500 check from the Carolina Casualty Insurance Co.
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“I was southbound in this terrible rainstorm, and the trailers on my double were swaying back and forth,” Hawks recalls. “I don’t know if I was hydroplaning or what, but the back trailer went onto the median strip and the next thing I know, the whole rig had whip-lashed onto the median and the rear trailer flipped over.”
Hawks was uninjured, but the incident left an emotional scar on him. “It’s something I’ll never forget. It taught me to be more aware of my surroundings and to take weather into account.”
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