Heros of the road

Canada Cartage has recognized two of its drivers from different parts of the country who went above and beyond to make a real difference in the lives of others.

This spring Doug Strickland, a driver with Canada Cartage based in Oshawa, Ontario, received an award from the Durham Regional Police when his quick thinking resulted in the apprehension of a violent armed robbery suspect and helped save the life of the store attendant.

Strickland walked into a gas bar store and saw the clerk standing with his hands in the air and a suspect dressed in a black hooded shirt. He quickly retreated from the store and called police who arrived while the robbery was still in progress and apprehended the suspect. Strickland’s actions that day helped make the community a safer place.

Michael Stack, a Whitehorse-based driver with Canada Cartage’s Edmonton, Alberta terminal, was travelling a very remote northern highway hauling a load to Whitehorse, Yukon when he came upon a tractor-trailer upside down in the ditch. Stack stopped and assisted in the rescue of a commercial driver who was still in the cab of the twisted tractor.

Stack, a former paramedic, assisted the driver and did cervical spine precautions, bandaged the driver’s wounds, and helped him into another operator’s vehicle to meet the ambulance that was dispatched from a few hours away.

After the driver was taken care of, he secured the scene by disconnecting the tractor-trailer’s batteries. The tanks were leaking diesel fuel and the driver was hauling fertilizer, an extremely volatile product that can cause explosions or fires when ignited or heated, posing a very serious danger. Because of Stack’s quick thinking, there were no serious injuries.

“We have everyday heroes on our team,” says Canada Cartage president and CEO, Jeff Lindsay. “We are very proud of both Doug and Michael for their heroic efforts and for demonstrating incredible humanity, one of Canada Cartage’s core values”.