This year’s highwaySTAR of the Year award was open to company drivers for the first time, but when the judging was done, owner-operator Dale Hadland earned the nod.

A resident of Beachville, Ont., he’s been an owner-operator for 23 years and currently works with International Freight Systems (IFS) in Tilbury, Ont. With more than two million accident-free miles behind him, he’s a steel hauler, running primarily into the Great Lake states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. He’s very involved in his community, which is what the highwaySTAR award is all about.

“He’s always there when we need him,” his wife Kris says of Dale’s commitment to his family and his community. “He’s always there when anybody needs him—not just us. He always does his best to give back what he can.”

For instance, for the past three years Dale’s been in the Top 10 fund raisers for the Ontario division of World’s Longest Truck Convoy for Special Olympics. He also donates a great deal of time to his church, and in September of 2006, he and his son Dexxter went to Peru on a mission to help build a church. Dale paid his own way.

Kris calls Dale a conscientious professional who puts safety above all. He’s been an active participant in the co-op ­insurance company at IFS, as well as serving on its safety ­committee, and was recently elected to be on the company’s board of directors.