VINELAND — The Vineland Post Office will celebrate the induction of letter carrier Peter Valentine into the National Safety Council’s Million Mile Club with a special ceremony on Wednesday, August 22, at 8:15 a.m. The event will take place at the Vineland Carrier Annex, 1539 Almond Road, in Vineland.

According to the National Safety Council, more than 6,000 postal employees have achieved a unique distinction most of us never approach in a lifetime — driving more than 1 million, accident-free miles.

The nation’s 34,000 Post Offices are linked by 221,000 vehicles — the world’s largest civilian fleet. As one of America’s last vestiges to make house calls, 340,000 letter carriers and truck drivers log more than 1.2 billion miles annually when delivering to America’s 151 million addresses.

Reaching this pinnacle requires 30 years of service and a safe attitude. How do they do it? “We place the safety of our employees as our top priority,” said Linda Malone, South Jersey District Manager. “And we credit our comprehensive safe driver training program as being second to none.”

Driving for the Postal Service is a privilege that requires all drivers to demonstrate safe driving practices throughout their careers. Behind-the-wheel job candidates undergo a rigorous screening, training and testing process to earn credentials to operate a right-hand drive postal vehicle.

According to members of this exclusive club, the keys to driving safely include being observant and driving to match conditions.

They also offered these tips:

• Drive defensively — expect the unexpected.
• Maintain a distance of one car length for every 10 m.p.h. between you and the car in front of you.
• Keep your options open — have a “what do I do if I’m cut off” strategy.
• Turn off mobile devices when driving — no cell phones or texting.

Information on the National Safety Council’s Safe Driver Program is located at www.nsc.org/usps. Questions can be directed to National Safety Council Customer Relations at 1-800-621-7619 or uspsawards@nsc.org.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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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 — 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office™ Boxes. The Postal Service™ receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com®, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011,Oxford Strategic Consulting ranked the U.S. Postal Service number one in overall service performance of the posts in the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.