Winner of 2016 Highway Angel of the Year Award revealed

by Sonia Straface

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Daniel Sieczkarski, a professional driver for Melton Truck Lines based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was named the 2016 Highway Angel of the Year.

The Highway Angel of the Year Award is given to truck drivers who display exemplary acts of kindness and courage on the road and go above and beyond their duty as a driver to help those in need.

As a whole, said Lance Platt, CEO of EpicVue, a partner of the award, the Highway Angel program aims to improve the image of the trucking industry through collecting positive stories of real-life drivers. The award was presented at the Truckload Carriers Association 79th annual convention on March 27.

Sieczkarski was nominated for the award in April 2016 when he saved a fellow professional truck driver who was stuck in rising flood water in Houston, Texas. While driving on the I-10 in Brookshire, Texas, he noticed a tractor-trailer was parked sideways in the water with the driver still behind the wheel, with water rising faster around him.

Sieczkarski parked his own truck safely and made his way to the truck with a borrowed life vest and convinced the driver to swim with him to safety. According to reports, an hour after saving the driver, the tractor-trailer was completely submerged in the flood.

Sieczkarski has been driving trucks professionally for 14 years. He is a native of Rochester, New York.

“I basically did it out of the kindness of my heart,” he said upon receiving the award. “Thank you to everyone…my family back home and Melton Truck Lines for the support.”


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