NEWS RELEASE
TRUCKLOAD CARRIERS ASSOCIATION
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The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has named truck driver Darrin Gillmore from Barrie, Ont., a TCA Highway Angel for stopping to help rescue several passengers from a fatal, multi-vehicle accident.
This is Gillmore’s second Highway Angel Award. He drives for Bison Transport, out of Winnipeg, Man.
It’s an incredible story: On May 2 at 4 p.m., Gillmore and his trainee, Omen Li, were travelling near Sintaluta, Sask., when they came upon a two-vehicle accident with three people involved.
The accident had taken place at the corner of Highway 606 and Highway 1.
Gillmore estimates he and Li came upon the accident within 60 seconds of it happening.
“I had my student pull over, so I grabbed my fire extinguisher, my bolt cutters and my first-aid kit,” said Gillmore. “We went to the accident scene and there was a lady that was fatally injured.”
A man involved in the wreck was out of his vehicle, so Gillmore and Li helped him lie down and get comfortable until EMS arrived. Then the men helped cut the horn on one car and cut the battery to prevent a fire. There was a teenage boy in the accident, who had been travelling with his now-deceased grandmother.
“We tried to keep the kid calm — obviously, he knew his grandma was dead,” Gillmore said.
The men helped him out of his vehicle and tried to keep him calm and assess his injuries.
“We comforted him until the EMS showed up and they took over from there,” he said.
Gillmore has been driving trucks for 20 years and has been at the scene of about three fatalities a year, he estimated.
“I’ve been to many, many, many accidents and I always stop and I always help — I just do my best,” he said.
Since the TCA Highway Angels program’s inception in August 1997, nearly 1,400 professional truck drivers have been recognized as Highway Angels for exemplary kindness, courtesy, and courage displayed while on the job.
Thanks to the program’s presenting sponsor, EpicVue, and supporting sponsors, DriverFacts and Northland Insurance, TCA is able to showcase outstanding drivers like Mr. Gillmore.
The TCA Highway Angel website can be accessed at www.truckload.org/highway-angel.
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