Shawn Hubbard of Ruan Transport Corporation Selected as TCA's 2010 Highway Angel of the Year

(Alexandria, Virginia) -– The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) is pleased to announce that its 2010 Highway Angel of the Year is Shawn Hubbard, a professional driver with Ruan Transport Corporation of Des Moines, Iowa. Hubbard, who saved the life of a young man trapped inside a burning car, will be the third Highway Angel of the Year to be recognized at the uDrove® Humanitarian Bowl (formerly known as Roady's Humanitarian Bowl), a post-season, NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game scheduled for December 18, 2010, at Boise State University's Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho.

Hubbard's story begins on November 13, 2009, at 3:35 a.m. He had just made a delivery and was heading east on I-60 in California when he came across a car on fire. The car appeared to have smashed into several steel poles and had come to rest in a ditch against a 40-foot high embankment. Two people were still inside the vehicle: the driver, who appeared to be dead, and a passenger, who was still alive, but pinned on all sides by the crushed car. Using two fire extinguishers, Hubbard was able to slow the flames down, but could not fully extinguish them.

With adrenaline providing an extra boost of energy, Hubbard was able to pull the debris and collapsed roof off the car so the passenger could escape. Screaming at him to move quickly regardless of the pain, Hubbard got the heavy-set man out and pushed him up the hill to safety, seconds before flames fully engulfed the car. The California Highway Patrol was so impressed that it later presented him with a Certificate of Commendation. He also received an award from the L.A. County Supervisor as well as a Gold "R" certificate from Ruan.

"What Hubbard did was extraordinary, but even more incredible is the fact that throughout the entire event, hundreds of cars passed by on the busy seven-lane highway, but – other than the truck driver who originally called 911 and someone who tossed a second fire extinguisher down the embankment to Hubbard – not a single person stopped to help," said John Kaburick, TCA chairman and president of Earl L. Henderson Trucking Company, Salem, Illinois.

The decision to name Hubbard as the 2010 Highway Angel of the Year was made by the TCA Communications & Image Policy Committee, which oversees the Highway Angel program.

As the Highway Angel of the Year, Hubbard will be flown to the uDrove® Humanitarian Bowl, accompanied by Ralph Arthur, president of Dedicated Contract Carriage for Ruan Transport Corporation. After his story is told, he will receive a trophy in front of the 34,000-person audience. The event is sure to attract massive publicity for the Highway Angel program, furthering its goal of educating the general public about the good deeds that professional truck drivers do every day in the course of their jobs.

Highway Angels nominations are accepted year-round. To nominate a driver or read stories about previous Highway Angels, visit www.truckload.org/Highway-Angel. For more information on the program in general, contact TCA at (703) 838-1950 or via e-mail at Angel@truckload.org.