Citizen Driver intends to honor our industry’s professional truck drivers who best exemplify the kind of quality individuals that we all know exist in trucking. Citizen Driver also intends to bring these drivers’ stories to the general public. We should be proud of the great men and women who drive trucks in America, and America should hear their stories. Our goal for Citizen Driver is to give both industry and national recognition to one of the best things about trucking – its salt-of-the-earth drivers. We hope Citizen Driver might be one small act that can generate stories about drivers that help propel the image of trucking and of truck drivers to new heights, to bring one more bit of respect to the professional truck driver. We hope that, over time, and combined with other image enhancing programs spearheaded by many, many other organizations, we will be successful in improving respect for drivers from others, respect by drivers of themselves, increasing interest of those who are looking for a career to become truck drivers, and along with all of that the comfort, safety and well-being of drivers on the road.

We are firm believers that every positive message, no matter how small, will eventually have a big impact on all of these things. We hope our Citizen Driver program will be one such message.

The focus criteria we have suggested for nominees include Citizenship, Safety, Community, Health & Wellness and Leadership. That said, it is our intent to consider all nominations. It is very difficult, and limiting, to truly define the criteria that make a particular individual someone the industry can be proud of. For some, it may include all five of our suggested criteria. For others, it may be an abundance of one or two of the criteria. Still others may be exemplary because they are engaged in an admirable activity that fits squarely into none of our suggested criteria. We want the Citizen Drivers to be amazing people – people everyone can admire – and people that the trucking industry is glad to count among one of their own.

In January 2018, our judging panel of distinguished trucking professionals will review the nominees, decide on a group of distinguished finalists and ultimately select one or more honorees (we plan to rename several truck stops each year). We will support the process throughout the year with our social and print media and to share information and stories about nominees with others who also have an interest.

Honorees and distinguished finalists will all receive recognition and a package of goods and services from TA and Petro. Those that are selected to be respected by having a truck stop named after them will be asked to select their favorite truck stop, and then we will set to installing plaques, changing the awning name-banners and making other modifications so that all of our guests, drivers and motorists alike, are made aware of the high standards those honorees bring to trucking.

I hope I can count on you to support our Citizen Drivers by considering and making a nomination. We know these exemplary individuals exist and we want to give their stories a chance to be heard.

Sincerely,

Thomas M. O’Brien
President and Chief Executive Officer