When WalMart trucker George Hart drives into the sunset March 6, he could be the second employee in Walmart’s history to log more than 4 million accident-free miles.
The Anderson County, Mo., resident has spent the past 34 years driving big rigs for the retail giant. He logs about 3,000 miles per week hauling freight from Bentonville to St. James, Mo.
“I make six trips during each five-day week and I’m home on the weekends, Hart said as he runs between the two distribution centers logging 600 miles a day over a nine-hour period. “I’ve been driving for some 50 years in all since I was 21 years old.”
Hart stated it was his safe driving record that led him to Wal-Mart in 1981 – that and higher pay. To be considered for hire by Wal-Mart, the minimum requirement is 250,000 miles without any preventable accidents in the past three years. And while Wal-Mart’s trucking business gained headlines because of the high profile accident involving Tracy Morgan in June 2014, the company’s overall driving record earned the American Trucking Association’s fleet safety award in the fall of 2014.
By industry standards, Wal-Mart has one of the safest private fleets on the road driving 2.11 million miles per preventable accident, according to the retailer’s website and data provided by the Federal Motor Coach Safety Administration.
