For safety-conscious trucker, Over more than 30 years of commercial truck driving with an impeccable safety record, Belleville driver Don Terry has won so many awards one might suspect he's become used to it. But winning the National Driver of the Year award, complete with a large trophy, remains an excit- ing event for him. An employee of the Belleville- based Canada Transport's Cana- da-JET Transportation, carrying general goods, Terry has been with the firm for the past 16 years. He was the company's own "driver of the year" award winner in 1978. He has also won first place in the company's own group tractor and trailer roadeo, and has won a "show and shine" award at Shannonville for the best cab-over. Last year, he was named On- tario Driver of the Year, and an independent panel of judges rep- resenting the Canada Safety Council, Transport Canada, and the Traffic Injury Research Foun- dation of Canada decided to name him the first national Driver of the Year from Ontario. Company president Dick Baker said it was a special honor both to his company and for On- tario. "We're obviously very proud," he said as the local an- nouncement was made Friday at the company's Bellevue Drive ter- minal. To add to the appreciation, Baker presented Terry with a awards just keep rolling in travel voucher for himself and his wife, Lorna. Now in his 47th year, Terry says he has always put his best into his driving because "it was something I always wanted to do since I was a child, and I stuck with it." For his first 15 years in the business, Terry drove moving vans for the former LaPalm mov- ers, "coast to coast." Since joining Canada Transport Group, his main routes have been various destinations in Ontario and Que- bec, but he still averages "about 100,000 miles per year," with a career total of 2.5 million acci- dent-free miles. The award is based not only on driving, but attitude and achieve- ments, including family. He and his wife have four children. He has also been quick to point out hazards to government ministries he has observed on highways, or stop to help out in emergencies, such as a recent bad road acci- dent during a blizzard just west of Belleville on Highway 401. "The biggest hazard on the highways is speed," affirms Ter- ry. "I don't like it myself, and some motorists have no idea how hard it is to brake a loaded truck.". Baker also praised the compa- ny's own safety officer, Vickie Graham, who seized on Terry's record and sent in the nomina- tion. "Without her nomination, there would be no award." o