SALINAS, CA — Driving can be a challenging task on its own, let alone driving one million miles without so much as a fender-bender. Five Salinas mail carriers did just that and will be honored for reaching that milestone on Friday, March 20, 2020, at 8:00 am, 1011 Post Dr., Salinas, CA 93907.

Margaret Vargas, Antonio Bumatay, Matthew Hunter, Elmer Valenciano and Charles Nicholas Jr will all be inducted into the National Safety Council “Million Mile Club.”

Defensive and safe driving is the only way to ensure that each day ends as smoothly as it began, as Hunter states “Always be on the defensive because your life depends on it.”

You cannot be a safe driver without paying close attention to details. Bumatay states, “Pay attention to your surroundings.” Vargas brings it all home, “Do your job correctly to come home safe.”

For this group, safety is a habit. It is something that takes precedent on a daily basis and that is the key to their accident-free record.

This is the mindset you’d expect from Postal Service mail carriers who have each driven the equivalent of circling the earth 40 times, all without a moving violation or accident, while maneuvering hazardous road conditions, gridlock, rural terrain, and avoiding careless drivers along the way.

“Safety is not just a buzz word, our postal drivers take safety very seriously,” said Bay-Valley District Manager Darrel Stoke. “The truly remarkable achievement by our mail carriers demonstrates how postal employees continue to deliver on the promise of delivering their best every day with care, courtesy and concern for the safety of others.”

Nationally, postal drivers log more than 1.5 billion miles annually while delivering to more than 159 million homes and businesses in every city, suburb and town in America as they make the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

Each driver will be presented with a plaque from the Safety Council and automatic membership in the prestigious National Safety Council “Million Mile Club.” The million-mile award is a lifetime enrollment, and it is given to drivers who have accumulated one-million miles or 30 years of driving without being involved in a single preventable motor vehicle accident.

MEDIA ALERT: Contact Frank Estigoy at (408) 386-6618 for photo opportunities and media interviews.

The Postal Service does not receive tax dollars for operating expenses; it relies entirely on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

###