KING CITY, Ont. – Home Hardware has captured the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada's Private Fleet Safety Award for the fifth time.

The 132-truck and almost 500 trailer private fleet won the Zurich-sponsored award in PMTC's Large Fleet Category. The award was presented to Dennis Shantz, national transportation manager.

At Home Hardware, driver performance is monitored through EOBRs and a bonus structure rewards drivers for safe and efficient operations.

The result is an outstanding overall CVOR violation rate of only 10.9 percent.

They were joined by 36-truck fleet John Deere, which won the same award for the Medium Fleet Category. John Van Geest, manager, Depot Operations was on hand to accept the honor.

As well, Larry Pachereva, Fleet Safety & Compliance supervisor of Maple Leaf Foods accepted the Most Improved fleet award after bringing his CVOR violation score down by over 10 percent over the last few years.

Next, the PMTC inducted three new exceptional drivers into its Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame, sponsored by Huron Services Group, recognizes superior over the road performance by drivers whose companies are members of the PMTC.

Luigi Colosimo, driving for Maple Leaf Foods; John Stell, of Huron Services Group driving for John Deere; and Claude Rivard, also of Huron Services, on the TONA Transport account, were the three drivers.

Colosimo has accumulated an impressive 3.2 million accident free kilometers over his 33-year career – all with Maple Leaf.

He is also described as an exemplary professional both on and off the road with a "top-notch work ethic."

John Stell has been an important part of the John Deere private fleet for the past 17 years. He started in1970 and since then has recorded an astounding 5 million kilometers of accident free driving.

Claude Rivard, assigned to TONA's Québec, is a 25-year veteran of the road. His career includes over 4 million kilometers without a preventable accident.