Five local employees will be recognized by Postal Officer in Charge, Karen Brown, for a combined total of 131 years of safe driving on behalf of the Postal Service and its customers.

"Most people overlook the fact that among their many duties, postal employees are also professional drivers. They regularly face driving conditions that demand uninterrupted concentration," said Ms. Brown. "There is no room for a misdelivery of safety when you are behind the wheel of a postal vehicle."

City Letter Carrier William McGuire will be awarded the prestigious National Safety Council’s Million Mile Award for safe driving during a program at the Granby Post Office, 10 Bank Street, slated for Thursday morning. Mr. McGuire has driven for 37 years without a reportable motor vehicle accident in the line of duty.

Since 2005, nearly 5,900 postal employees have achieved a unique distinction most of us never approach in a lifetime — driving more than 1 million, accident-free miles.

Four other Granby city letter carriers will be recognized under the standards of the National Safety Council for an Expert Driver Award. They include:

• Kevin Longo, with a 25-year award for Expert Driving,
• Geralyn Gonzalez, earning a 25-year Expert Driving award, and
• Bruce Blowers and Mike Killits, each earning 22-year Expert Driving awards.

The nation’s 34,000 Post Offices are linked by 221,000 vehicles — the world’s largest civilian fleet. Each year, America’s 340,000 letter carriers and truck drivers log more than 1.2 billion miles when delivering to more than 140 million delivery points nationwide.

According to the National Safety Council, the Safe Driver Award is the trademark of the expert driver and is recognized as the nation’s highest award for professional safe driving.

Since the National Safety Council created the Safe Driver Award program in 1930, the millions of Safe Driver Awards issued attest to the professional driving skills of those drivers enrolled and their ability to avoid traffic accidents. The program also helps member companies, such as the Postal Service, to conserve skilled human resources, promote goodwill, reduce costs, and eliminate expensive accident claims.

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A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no direct support from taxpayers. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 28th in the 2009 Fortune 500.