JB Hunt Truck Driver Honored for 3 Million Safe Miles

Today in the Kokomo Tribune, Carson Gerber told the story of a driver with some impressive statistics under his hood: 3 million miles without so much as a traffic ticket, citation or fender bender.

Why does he love the job? The freedom of the open road. That seems to be a common sentiment among truckers from the 60s all the way to modern days of massive regulation. We agree – it beats being strapped to a desk.

From the article:

The distance around the Earth at the equator is 24,901 miles. By Richard Batt’s estimate, he could have driven around the planet nearly 24,100 times.

And he would have done it all in a semi without ever getting a single ding, scratch, nick or traffic ticket.

Batt, a 69-year-old truck driver and Kokomo native, recently was honored for achieving 3 million miles of safe driving with J.B. Hunt Transport, where he’s been employed the last 21 years. The award came with a hefty $20,000 bonus that Batt used to buy a white 2009 Pontiac Solis.

Out of the nearly 6,000 truckers currently working for J.B. Hunt, he’s only the 49th driver to receive the honor since the company was founded in 1961. To get the award, drivers can’t have any traffic tickets or preventable accidents.

“This is a very big deal,” said Bunny LePell, a company fleet manager who has worked with Batt for 14 years. “Twenty-one years. Three million miles. That’s impressive. He takes safety to a whole new level, and it’s not easy these days with all the road rage and crazy people out there.”

Read the rest of Richard Batt’s story by Carson Gerber at the Kokomo Tribune online.

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