Four professionals, one fleet take home Alabama top honors during sharp social media presentation; ATA Comp Fund winners also announced

By Al Muskewitz
 
The governor’s stay-at-home response to the COVID-19 pandemic may have prevented the Alabama Trucking Association from holding its Fleet Safety Awards in person, but it didn’t keep the organization from recognizing the winners.

Rosko Craig and Matt Frazier of Montgomery Transport, Andy Overstreet of P&S Transportation, Evergreen Forest Products’ E.J. Waters and Wedowee-based carrier LB3 grabbed the major awards Thursday night as the ATA took to social media with a sharply produced 30-minute Facebook presentation to announce the annual winners.
 
Craig is the Driver of the Year, Frazier the Safety Professional of the Year, Overstreet the Fleet Manager of the Year and Waters the Maintenance Professional of the Year. LB3 won the President’s Award, recognized as the state’s safest fleet.
 
“I think it’s one of the highlights of the year for the companies and the individuals especially,” ATA vice president of safety and compliance Tim Frazier said. “A lot of times in our world you beat a lot of pavement out there and get very little recognition, for these folks especially, to have the year that they’ve had.
 
“A lot of these companies run 3, 4, 5 million miles inside the state of Alabama and a lot of them had an excellent year with one or two accidents. To be able to recognize that and see the effort that they’ve put forth and the programs they have in place to be able to do that, to me, it’s just one of the most class things that we do. It’s quite an accomplishment.”
 
The awards are modeled after the American Trucking Associations award standards. Fleet awards are based on miles traveled by a fleet within Alabama. Individual awards are chosen by an independent panel of judges composed of officials from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
 
While the Facebook production provided a novel solution to a unique circumstance, Frazier is hopeful at some point in the future to be able to have a more physical interaction with the professional award winners. Still, in this most challenging of times for the nation and the industry, he was proud to present some positive information to the stakeholders.
 
“What a time to honor excellence in the trucking industry,” ATA president and CEO Mark Colson said. “The men and women in our business are shining during very challenging circumstances. From the White House to the farmhouse there is an acute awareness of the important role trucking plays in our daily lives. We are so proud of the individuals and the companies recognized in this year’s Fleet Safety Awards. Through crisis or Christmas truckers keep America moving forward.”

Meet the winners

Craig has logged more 3 million safe miles in his 22-year driving career, nearly a million during his seven years with Montgomery Transport. He was the company’s 2018 Driver of the Year, twice was named driver of the month and currently holds a place on the company’s driver advisory board.
 
“I thought it was a big thing last year (when he was named company Driver of the Year), but this just blows my mind all over again,” he said. “It’s unbelievable to me. It’s hard to explain. I’m on Cloud Nine all over again.”

He called the fact two professionals from the same company were among the major award winners Thursday night "awesome."

Montgomery Transport CEO Rollins Montgomery said Craig “consistently proves that he is in an elite status of professional drivers” and called him “an integral part of the Montgomery family.”

In recognition of all that, he is one of five Montgomery Transport drivers testing the Mirror Eye rear-view technology on his Driver of the Year truck, No. 73 in the nationwide program.

"Safety means everything; I'm 100 percent committed to safety," Craig said. "I don’t hurry, I take my time doing what I have to to do it right the first time, then check and check again to make sure. If I see something that's not right I'll step up and say you're doing that wrong this is how I'd do it and nine times out of 10 they take my advice. The young guys call me 'Old school.'"

Matt Frazier is a third-generation trucking professional; yes, Tim is his dad, but he earned this award on his own merit and through perhaps even more strenuous vetting than most candidates. He began his career with one of the state’s top trucking consulting firms where he gained extensive knowledge regarding regulatory guidance required by FMCSA and then moved to a private fleet in 2004 as safety director providing guidance for 130 drivers. 

Frazier joined Montgomery Transport as one of three founding employees in 2011 and just recently was promoted to vice president of compliance and security. During his tenure, the company has grown from a small start-up to a fleet of several hundred trucks through various company entities and has won more than 20 safety-related awards. He’s been involved with the ATA’s Safety and Maintanence Management Council for more than 20 years, currently serving on its steering committee and Truck Driving Championship committee as course designer and set-up coach.
 
“Matt’s experience and commitment to safety compliance and security have created a solid foundation for our professional drivers and our office personnel,” Montgomery said. “His dedication, commitment and strong work ethic enables him to produce at a high level from both a quantity and a quality standpoint.”
 
Frazier was nominated in the contest about 10 years ago and the competition was stiff then. But he’s paid his dues and breaking through this year was the culmination of a strong body of work.
 
“He’s had a pretty good run,” the elder Frazier said. “I told the judges going into it we’ve got one entry this year that should he be considered you recheck it and if you decide he wins it you recheck it again. I said you verify upon verify that that is a sound, solid decision because I don’t want anybody saying daddy had any input.
 
“He probably was grilled as hard as anybody has ever been as far as credentials and looking at all the materials they entered for it, so he earned it and earned it on his own. I was proud of him and proud for him, more than anything.”

Waters is a three-time winner of his award, having taken the honors in 2012 and 2017 as well. His career has spanned 47 years, virtually all of it as a maintenance director and the last 13 with Evergreen Forest Products. He has received numerous certifications and won the Freightliner skills competition in North Carolina three of the four years he’s competed.
 
“(Waters) is likely one of the most technically trained maintenance directors in our industry,” Tim Frazier said. “He’s just passionate about what he does.”
 
The senior management team at Evergreen Forest Products echoed those sentiments in its nomination.
 
“He has dedicated his career to ensuring every piece of equipment in his charge is maintained in the safety operational conditional possible,” the company said. “He passes his knowledge to new associates as if they were part of the family … He approaches all his assigned tasks as if the driver and general public’s life were at stake, and they are. His maintenance performance is unparalleled in the industry.”

Overstreet has been in the trucking industry since 1998 and with P&S for nearly eight years. As its Driver Manager Supervisor, he oversees a staff of eight driver managers and the daily activity of 235 drivers. 
 
“As an operations person as most would identify him, safety is at the top of his priority list,” Frazier said. “He manages his group with the message that safety is and will always remain his number one priority. He understands the role safety has in making employees, the company and the trucking industry successful.”

LB3, a small carrier operated by Brad and Valerie Lindley hauling general freight, meat, refrigerated food and paper products, won the President’s Award with zero accidents across 477,586 in-state miles. It edged out Georgia Tank Lines (339,926 miles) for the award.
 
“They’ve got it all together doing a good job,” Frazier said.

ATA Comp Fund Award Winners

The ATA Comp Fund award winners also were announced during the program.
 
The recipients were selected based on a willingness to instill a culture of safety, a commitment to implement the group’s Risk Management model and overall loss ratio.
 
“We are passionate about our Risk Management model,” director of Risk Management Don Anchors said. “Those members that have embraced our model have significantly reduced their workers’ compensation losses. This change has increased productivity as well as generated increases in their bottom-line profits.
 
“Our goal is simple: To help our members focus on safety and to make sure every driver and employee goes home safe and healthy to their family each day.”
 
Safety Excellence Award: Heritage Freight Warehousing & Logistics, Sylacauga
Small Fleet Safety Award: John Ray Enterprises, Eastaboga
Medium Fleet Safety Award: Grace Logistics, Muscle Shoals
Large Fleet Safety Award: Wilmar Trucking, Camden
Allied Services Safety Award: Transport Trailer Center, Ozark
Moving & Storage Services Safety Award: Changing Spaces Moving, Birmingham
 
NASCAR enthusiasts may recognize John Ray Enterprises. Its late founder, John Ray, drove the big rig that carried the large American flag around Talladega Superspeedway during pre-race ceremonies of the track’s twice-yearly race weekends. Ray passed away earlier this year.

Al Muskewitz is Editor of Wright Media. He can be reached at musky@wrightmediacorp.com
 
ATA FLEET SAFETY AWARDS
President’s Award: LB3
Fleet Manager of the Year: Andy Overstreet, P&S Transportation
Maintenance Professional of the Year: E.J. Waters, Evergreen Forest Products
Safety Professional of the Year: Matt Frazier, Montgomery Transport (runner-up: Scott Hackleman, P&S Transportation)
Driver of the Year: Rosko Craig, Montgomery Transport (runner-up: Lawrence Twitty, Blair Logistics)
 
IMPROVEMENT AWARDS
Hazardous Materials: Georgia Tank Lines
Tank Truck: J&M Tank Lines
Miscellaneous (1-3 Million Miles): Massey Hauling
Household Goods: Changing Spaces Moving
Heavy Haulers: RM Logistics
Private Carrier (Under 1 Million Miles): Golden Flake Snack Foods
Private Carrier (3-5 Million Miles): Publix Super Markets
Private Carrier (Over 5 Million Miles): River Valley Ingredients
General Commodities (Local Under 100,000 Miles): Blair Logistics
General Commodities (Local Under 1 Million Miles): BR Williams Trucking
General Commodities (Local 3-5 Million Miles): Southeastern Freight Lines
General Commodities (Local 5-10 Million Miles): Billy Barnes Enterprises
General Commodities (Linehaul Under 1 Million Miles): LB3
General Commodities (Linehaul 1-3 Million Miles): DT Freight
General Commodities (Linehaul 3-5 Million Miles): Wright Transportation
General Commodities (Linehaul 5-10 Million Miles): P&S Transportation
General Commodities (Linehaul Over 10 Million Miles): Southeastern Freight Lines
General Commodities (Combined Under 1 Million Miles): Church Transportation
General Commodities (Combined 3-5 Million Miles): Greenbush Logistics
General Commodities (Combined 5-10 Million Miles): Billy Barnes Enterprises
General Commodities (Combined Over 10 Million Miles): Southeastern Freight Lines
General Improvement: Boyd Bros. Transportation, Red Mountain Transportation, TCW
 
The following companies improved their year-over-year accident rate for the previous year: AAA Cooper Transportation, Benny Whitehead, Billy Barnes Enterprises, Blair Logistics, Boyd Bros. Transportation, BR Williams Trucking, Changing Spaces Moving, Church Transportation and Logistics, DT Freight, FedEx Freight, Georgia Tank Lines, Greenbush Logistics, J&M Tank Lines, LB3, Montgomery Transport, P&S Transportation, Publix Super Markets, Red Mountain Transportation, River Valley Ingredients, Shelton Trucking, Southeastern Freight Lines, TCW.
 
ATA COMP FUND AWARDS
Safety Excellence Award: Heritage Freight Warehousing & Logistics, Sylacauga
Small Fleet Safety Award: John Ray Enterprises, Eastaboga
Medium Fleet Safety Award: Grace Logistics, Muscle Shoals
Large Fleet Safety Award: Wilmar Trucking, Camden
Allied Services Safety Award: Transport Trailer Center, Ozark
Moving & Storage Services Safety Award: Changing Spaces Moving, Birmingham
 
Director’s Safety Award
Dixie Transport, Vernon
Southern Intermodal Express, Mobile
Thompson Carriers, Opelika
Delta Transfer Lines, Jasper