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Kissimmee’s Steve Rawlins was selected as one of 18 National Private Truck Council National Driver All-Stars. SUBMITTED PHOTO
If you see Kissimmee’s Steve Rawlins out in his Walgreens truck in the evening, you can breathe easy, knowing you’re sharing the road with one of America’s safest truck drivers.
Rawlins, along with just 18 other drivers across the country, was recently selected as a 2022 National Private Truck Council (NPTC) National Driver All-Star. The annual program recognizes a handful of private fleet truck drivers who have demonstrated high performance standards against their peer drivers throughout the country based on customer service, safety, adherence to company standards, regulatory compliance, and community service.
After 32 years as a professional truck driver, Rawlins attributes his selection to his impeccable driving record.
“A lot of it was safe miles driven – a huge criteria is consecutive miles driven without an accident and right now I’m at 4.4 million miles,” he said. “Being on time and available and being courteous helps as well.”
Rawlins’s career in truck driving started in the early 1990s in the Virgin Islands, where he grew up. There he went through training and testing to be able to drive a truck before moving to Kissimmee in 1998 and starting his career driving for CPC Logistics in his Walgreens truck.
While his current route involves driving from Orlando to Tallahassee and back, Rawlins has seen most of the U.S. after having done cross-country routes for six months. He prefers the daily trek to Tallahassee.
“A job like this, now, when you get to be home every night – it’s a plus,” he said.
There are other plusses of the job, too. Rawlins said that taking in the sights of the areas he drives through makes the drives more interesting.
“It is just something different every day,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll say to you, ‘Hey man, can you run to Miami and back?’ You’ll see something new.”
And during those 10hour drives, Rawlins turns to the radio to keep him entertained. “Being from the islands, my favorite music is reggae, but I listen to mostly radio and sports,” he said. “Like when there’s a baseball game that will keep me attentive and focused.”
Other than contending with traffic, he said one of the tough parts of his job is being tired of driving when the weekend comes.
“Honestly, on the weekends, I don’t even think I want to see a steering wheel,” he laughed. “It is rough, so if we’re going out to dinner ... if I have help, I prefer someone else do it.”
Still, Rawlins makes an impact in his job, not just by making sure our stores are well-stocked, but by inspiring the next generation of drivers. He recounted a time where he took his Walgreens truck and trailer to the American Heart Association Heart Walk and met an 8- or 9-year-old boy who was incredibly excited to see the truck.
“It was one of his dreams to be in a truck like that,” Rawlins said. “Then, what really touched my heart is that the kid had two open-heart surgeries, so that’s why they were there at the heart walk. When the dad told me that, it was a special day, you know? That made it feel worthwhile.”
