A 40-year, 4-million mile driver and U.S. Army veteran, Ruth McDonough, is the 2022 CVSA International Driver Excellence Award winner. The award announcement was made August 2 by Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) leadership.
McDonough is a specialized commercial motor vehicle driver with Hittman Transport Services. She is responsible for hauling radioactive and nuclear loads for EnergySolutions. She has worked for Hittman for over a decade.
“Ruth McDonough has been driving large vehicles, in the military and as a commercial motor vehicle driver, for more than 40 years and approximately 4 million miles, all incident free.” – CVSA
To be nominated for a CVSA IDEA award, a driver must have at least 25 cumulative years of crash-free driving in a commercial motor vehicle with a clean driving record for the past three years, no felony convictions, no safety-related driving suspensions in the past three years and no driver violations in the past three years, excluding form and manner violations. It is one of the highest industry honors a driver can receive.
Here’s an excerpt from the CVSA news release:
McDonough’s trucking career began in 1979 when she enlisted in the U.S. Army. She received basic training and truck-driving training at Fort Dix in New Jersey as one of only a few women in her class. Upon completion of training, McDonough was assigned to the 181st Transportation Battalion, 51st Transportation Company in Mannheim, Germany, which is a movement control unit that provides tailored and adaptive transportation, expeditionary logistical capabilities for transportation, movement control and distribution in support of U.S. European Command. McDonough supported transportation operations in Germany by safely delivering armored personnel carriers, ammunition and general supplies. She earned the Army Achievement Medal for her time in Germany. She was then stationed in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as part of the 839th Transportation Company, where she received the Driver of the Year Award at the retirement ceremony of the unit.
After her military service, McDonough continued her transportation career by working as a professional truck driver. She worked at Tri-State Motor Transit Company, out of Joplin, Missouri, and was one of the first women drivers to work for companies such as Hershey Chocolate in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and Mountain Valley Spring Water Company in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
In December 2011, McDonough was welcomed to the Hittman Transport Services team and has been proudly supporting the radioactive and nuclear field with Hittman ever since. Hittman Transport Services transports low-level radioactive waste and is one of the largest trucking companies hauling nuclear fuel in the U.S. Its drivers transport shipping casks, vans and flatbeds throughout the U.S. and Canada. McDonough is one of few women who support the nuclear transport industry.
CVSA IDEA Committee
McDonough will receive her award next month at the CVSA Annual Conference and Exhibition in Rapid City, South Dakota. She will be presented with a crystal trophy and a check for $2,500 at the awards luncheon on Sept. 21. You can read the CVSA press release by following the link.
PrePass Safety Alliance sponsored this year’s IDEA.
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