Ontario Truck Hero Named
Canada’s Truck Driver of the Year for 2006
Driver has 39 years’ collision-free
driving, recipient of OPP Commissioner’s Citation for Lifesaving
(Toronto: Nov. 16, 2006) – Mervin
“Merv” Connolly, an owner-operator contracted to L. E. Walker
Transport Ltd. has been named the CTA/Volvo Trucks Canada National Driver of the
Year for 2006. Mr. Connolly has driven over five million collision free
kilometres in 39 years of commercial driving and has been recognized with an OPP
award of lifesaving. A keepsake trophy and cash prize were presented at the
80th annual convention of the Ontario Trucking Association (Nov. 16
& 17, Toronto Congress Centre).
“It is a great honour to present Mr. Connolly with this prestigious award,” says David Bradley, CEO, Canadian Trucking Alliance. “He exemplifies the very best qualities of a professional truck driver.”
“It is a great honour to present Mr. Connolly with this prestigious award,” says David Bradley, CEO, Canadian Trucking Alliance. “He exemplifies the very best qualities of a professional truck driver.”
"L E Walker Transport Ltd is honoured to have Merv
within our driver ranks”, says Julie Tanguay, President. "To have Merv
receive the Ontario Trucking Association/Volvo Trucks Canada Driver of the Year
award for 2005 and now the CTA/Volvo Trucks Canada National Driver of the Year
for 2006 is exciting and extremely gratifying given our commitment to public
safety. We have a lot of wonderful drivers working for us and to be honest,
they all do us proud each and every day. We thank Merv and all of our drivers
for their dedication to this industry and the public while on the
road."
Each year the award goes to a professional transport
driver who has a collision-free driving record and is an exemplary truck driver
both on and off the road. The recipient is selected by a panel of judges made up
of representatives from the: Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada Safety
Council, the Traffic Injury Research Foundation of Canada and the Canadian
Trucking Alliance.
Mr. Connolly, 55, delivers freight from Ontario to the
USA for L.E. Walker Transport Ltd. (based in St. Thomas, Ont.). During the
course of his driving career he has on more than one occasion lent a hand at
roadside accident scenes.
In March 2005 Mr. Connolly was awarded an Ontario
Provincial Police Commissioner’s Citation for Lifesaving, for helping lift
a vehicle off a trapped man and assisting a passenger who had been ejected from
the vehicle following an accident along Hwy. 401 near Windsor earlier in the
year.
Mr. Connolly has been around trucks all his life, he
began his career working at his dad’s trucking company in London, Ontario.
He resides with his wife Donna in Dutton, Ontario. The couple has seven adult
children.
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Media Contact: Rebecka Torn, Director of
Communications, Canadian Trucking Alliance, (416) 249-7401 x 224; cell: (403)
993-6666.
For more about the CTA/Volvo Trucks Canada National
Driver of the Year:
http://www.ontruck.org/education/award/ndrive.php
Source: Canadian Trucking Alliance,
www.cantruck.com
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