Tank Driver Gets Highway Hero Award

Related Stories Five considered for Highway Hero title. (March 23) (Note: To return to this story, click the "Back" button on your browser.)

Wayne Carpenter is the newest trucking Good Samaritan to win the title of Highway Hero.

The tanker driver for Cheshire Oil Co., was chosen from five semifinalists in Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.’s annual North America Highway Hero program (3-22, p. 14). He was recognized for his efforts to rescue an unconscious driver from a burning car after it struck a tractor-trailer and caused both vehicles to burst into flame in August on Route 4 near Durham, N.H.

Carpenter witnessed the wreck while hauling a load about 75 miles from his home in Keene, N.H. He jumped out of his rig and tried to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher.

After emptying his extinguisher and calling for help on his cellular telephone, Carpenter was able to pull the injured motorist from the burning car. Though the driver later died, a passenger in the car and the truck driver survived.

Created in 1983, the Highway Hero Award is one of the most prestigious in the trucking industry.

arpenter was selected by a group of trucking publication editors during the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky., in late March. He received a $20,000 U.S. savings bond, a gold and diamond ring, and an all-expense paid trip with his wife to the truck show and to Nashville, Tenn.

“It was a great honor,” said Carpenter. “I didn’t expect to win. It was a shock.”

The four other finalists will receive $5,000 savings bonds in addition to the free trips to Nashville. They are Christopher Sackos of Palm Bay, Fla.; Michael Asselin and Mark Savarie, Marstay, Ontario, residents who were nominated jointly; and the late Jamie Pritchard, Elk Park, N.C., who died while helping a woman and four children escape from a wrecked vehicle.

The contest started out with 41 nominees from the United States and Canada, and the field was later cut to 24 people who received a State Highway Hero Award. From that 24, the five men were selected as finalists for the top award.