Have you ever wondered how to attain the elusive goal of one-million, accident free miles?

For many professional drivers, reaching this goal is one of the greatest milestones in their career. It takes a professional driver between 8 and 10 years to achieve the Million Miles Club. That is 40 times around the Earth! To reach this achievement, Pride's Core Values must always be at the forefront of the driver's mind: be safety minded, knowledgeable, hard-working, friendly and approachable, and lastly, always do the right thing.

A professional driver risks losing all the miles driven for the year if they have a preventable accident. A seasoned driver and now Weekend Operations Manager, Shane Webb, is one of many Million Milers at Pride. I asked if he had set out to join the Million Miler Club when he started his driving career and he said, "I had two goals in mind; provide for my family and return home safely every time I left the house because I can't provide for my family if I am not here."

Shane has a lot of advice to share with other professional drivers. The most important being safety, Pride's number one Core Value. Shane states that, "Safety has to be your top priority, whether you're trying to get to a million miles or not. You must pay attention to everything. Keep your mind engaged and be alert."

Shane says the most successful people are those who are waving to other Pride trucks coming from the opposite direction because it means they are paying attention to everything and not what is directly in front of them. Shane elaborated and said, "when you're thinking about safety, you have to have your head on a swivel. You can't just focus on what's in front, on the side, or behind you, but what is coming at you."

Verl Webb, Shane's dad and another Million Miler at Pride taught him how to really pay attention. Verl would ask Shane to identify the color of the car behind them, without cheating. If Shane got it wrong or did not know, it was evident he wasn't paying attention. Part of this lesson was to teach Shane how to keep the mind active and to understand signs of fatigue.

What's Shane's secret to remaining focused? Before he ever stepped into the truck, he made sure everything was taken care of at home. His wife and children understood the job and lifestyle and offered their support. Shane says support is a critical element to being successful because any distracted driving is bad driving.

"If you are in a disagreement with a loved one it's best to pull over and resolve the situation than to continue driving distracted. Your mind must be on the truck and on the road. Set drama aside and eliminate distractions."

Because of his dad, when he is driving, Shane constantly runs scenarios in his head and asks himself questions like: "What happens if the car in front of me blows a tire? What's my out? There are unlimited scenarios that are experienced on the road; what if someone cuts you off, what if someone slams on their breaks? Is the median open? Is the shoulder open? Is it free of debris?"

These are the things one must think about while they’re working towards the achievement of a million+ safe miles.

Some key things Shane recommends:

• Know your fatigue signs and know when to pull over to rest.
• Invest in audiobooks - they keep you aware because you're interested in what's being said and it helps eliminate distractions.
• Make a routine for winding down; for Shane, five minutes before he plans to stop, he turns off all the sound in the truck, dims the interior of the truck, takes deep breaths to signal to his body that it's approaching bedtime and then reads a drab book that will put him to sleep!

Lastly, "you have to love and embrace the lifestyle - the big shiny rigs, taking pride in your equipment, making the truck your home away from home." Shane says he always feels good and ready to tackle whatever is ahead when his truck is clean - just like Jeff England! Pride understands how challenging being an over the road professional driver is and recognizes its employees when they have met the milestone of a half million safe miles and beyond.

Half Million Miles:

To qualify, you must have driven 500,000 safe miles (approximately four years) with Pride and be incident/accident free. All drivers who meet this criteria earn a Carhart jacket.

In 2021 we have 15 new Half Million mile drivers:

• Adam Bugbee, Alejandro Diaz, Barry Boardman, Brian Candey, Charles England, David Bunton, Destany Drawn, Don Blasongame, Shaun Green, Eric Grubb, Philip Hageman, Richard Harlander, Daniel Harnett, Heather Gardner, Ingham Truman, Christopher Iverson, James Capson, Jimmy Baum, Carl Johansen, John Brandes, John Gilbert, Stephan Johnson, Jaren Jorgensen, Jeremy Jorgensen, Troy Logan, Kristie Martin, Debbie McCarthy, Bernell McDonald, Eric Middleton, Travis Miller, Barry Osborne, Leroy Patterson, Scott Petty, Kenneth Polhemus, Carla Proctor, Donald Rives, Brandon Saenz, Carl Scales, Marvin Shaver, Neil Smith, Gabriel Stanton, Alva Steven, Ronald Sweeten, Ernst Timothy, Robbie Underwood, Vaughn, Feulner, Johnny Wainwright, Michael Weldon, James Wilkes III, Leonard Wright, Tim Wynder

Million Miles:

To qualify, you must have driven 1,000,000 safe miles (approximately eight years) collectively. This must be verified and substantiated by previous employers. All miles must be incident/accident free. All drivers who meet this criteria earn a wall plaque, personal plaque and an all-weather jacketand are announced in the company newsletter.

Currently, Pride has 64!

• 46-One Million milers

• Al Blanc, Barry Bowman, Gary Bowman, Everst Carter, Angelo Chacon, Ben Chindlund, Jeff Cleghorn, Joe Cottrell, Larry Couch, Antal Czifra Robert Day, Patricio Derugama, Bert Duncan, Misty Duncan, John Easling, Mark Fitzsimmons, Gary Frank, Daniel Franklin, Jose Garcia-Jauarez, William Giffen, Stephan Hinkle, Jared Howard, Yuriy Ishenko, Harry Jelaskovic, Ralph Laughter, Gregory Lawrence, Larry Lovell, Darin Mantas, Gary Osborn, Steven Perry, Daniel Raddon, Randy Rhodes, Mark Rojas, Jim Russell, Christopher Saunders, Richard Scott, Scott Severin, Rachel Snow, Christopher Steele, Larry Thornton, Mark Tilt, Kevin Tracy, Michael Waters, Verl Webb, Therald Wells 

• 13-Two million milers

• Tommy Bennett, Michael Duce, Richard Felsch, James Harper, Ron Jensen, Jene Neff, Ronert Parker, Jim Sim, Frank Smith, Jerry Stanford, Armando Torres, Tony Vink, Shane Webb

• 5-Three million milers

• Don Price, Juan Ramirez, Chuck Thomas, Bryan Tobias, James Malloch