Eric Melo of Mill Creek Motor Freight received the Fleet Safety Council (FSC) Provincial Truck Driver of the Year award along with a $2,500 cheque from Truck Right, driver management software company, that sponsors the award.

To qualify for the award, FCS candidates must maintain a clean driver’s abstract, free from preventable incidents over the past two years, and avoid preventable claims for freight damage or passenger injury for at least one year. They must also demonstrate a commitment to excellent customer service, participate in community service or volunteer work, participate in safety committees, and consistently display unusual courtesy toward other road users.

Krista Murray, Mill Creek’s safety and compliance manager, said that Melo is known for going above and beyond to help fellow drivers and ensuring things run as well as possible.

“He’s always giving a sound ear to drivers when they’re willing to listen. He comes up with safety council meetings and spreads that information out to everybody. He’s always been a patient driver and shows excellent skills when it comes to driving defensively and being patient with errors of other drivers,” Murray said. “Above all else, Eric is humble and seeks little recognition.”

In Nov. 2023, Melo stopped on the side of the road when no one else did and rescued two people from their burning vehicle within seconds of it exploding. He attempted to put out the fire with a small fire extinguisher and provided a safe haven for the two passengers rescued until the emergency services arrived.

Murray said that Melo kept the incident to himself, and Mill Creek’s management only found out because he requested a new fire extinguisher, “We kind of felt that was a little strange, so once we pulled the dash cam and everything, we noticed how quickly this chain of events happened, and it was literally seconds.”