The Virginia Trucking Association presented its 2018 Safety Awards on March 19 during its Annual VTA Safety and Human Resources Conference, held at the Renaissance Hotel in Portsmouth. The safety awards are sponsored by Nansemond Insurance Agency of Suffolk.

Associated Asphalt Transport LLC, of Roanoke, was presented the 2018 Grand Trophy for Fleet Safety in Virginia. This award is presented to the company that was judged to have had the state’s most effective motor carrier safety program during 2017. Associated Asphalt Transport LLC won the award in its division with a DOT recordable accident frequency rate of 0 in Virginia and only one lost workday case. As a safety focused company, its program consists of various tools to raise safety awareness among its drivers, including monthly online training with different topics each month and Smith System training. In addition to their focus on safety, Associated Asphalt Transport LLC also has an effective equipment maintenance program.

Todd Cribbs of Walmart Transportation LLC in Mt. Crawford was named the Safety Professional of the Year. This award is presented to a person responsible for directing or supervising safety activities of a VTA member trucking fleet who is of high moral character and has devoted his or her career to the field of highway and industrial safety. Cribbs has been employed by Walmart Transportation for 20 years. He has done an outstanding job of directing the compliance and safety performance of his fleet and leading his drivers to strive for excellence. He has led safety campaigns that include “Get Out and Look” and “Best Practices Reduce Preventable Crashes.” As a result of his leadership and these programs, the fleet he manages had a DOT recordable accident frequency rate of 0 in Virginia for 2017.

David Boyer, of Wytheville, a driver for ABF Freight System in Wytheville, was named the 2018 Virginia Truck Driver of the Year. Boyer has been a professional truck driver for more than 40 years, all with the same employer. During this time, he has accumulated 2.8 million miles of safe driving without a preventable or non-preventable accident. He has accumulated an amazing 38 years of accident-free driving. Boyer has served as a member of his company’s road team and was selected and served as a member of ATA’s road team. As a road team captain, he has impacted the lives of more than 50,000 high school students in seven different states by putting them behind the wheel of a truck to educate them about blind spots and sharing the road with large trucks. In 2016, he was awarded the Virginia Governor’s Transportation Safety Award for Motor Carrier Safety.

Fleet Safety Awards were presented to the following companies that had the lowest 2017 Virginia accident frequency rate in their class of competition:

• Associated Asphalt Transport LLC — Roanoke
• Carmax Auto Superstores Inc. — Richmond
• CLI Transport/Sheetz — Claysburg, Pa.
• Englander Transportation Inc. — Roanoke
• FedEX Freight Inc. — Harrison, Ark.
• Hilldrup Companies — Stafford
• Payne Trucking — Fredericksburg
• Walmart Transportation LLC — Bentonville, Ark.

Improvement awards for the fleets that had the greatest percentage of improvement in their accident frequency over the previous contest year were won by Associated Asphalt Transport LLC, of Roanoke; and Walmart Transportation LLC, of Bentonville, Ark.

Fleet Safety Certificates were awarded to the following companies who had an improved safety record over the previous year:

• ABF Freight Systems — Fort Smith, Ark.
• Allan Myers — Worcester, Pa.
• Associated Asphalt Transport LLC — Roanoke
• FedEX Freight Inc. — Harrison, Ark.
• Howell’s Motor Freight — Roanoke
• Paxton Van Lines — Springfield
• Payne Trucking — Fredericksburg
• Walmart Transportation LLC — Bentonville, Ark.