3 brave truck drivers recognized with 2024 Highway Angels Awards
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) – There are millions of truck drivers on roadways every day, but recently a few were recognized for their acts of bravery.
Three professional truck drivers were recognized as 2024's Highway Angels of the Year. The award is given to truck drivers around the country who have shown courage and bravery on North America's roadways.
The program is run by the Truckload Carriers' Association and has been running since 1997. This is the first year the TCA has recognized more than one highway angel of the year.
More than 75 professional truck drivers around the country are recognized with this award and News13 spoke with two who put other's safety before their own.
Highway Angel recipient, Terry Reavis, was awarded for pulling a crash victim to safety in Brunswick, Georgia. He was driving on Interstate 95 when he saw a pickup truck driving backwards across three lanes of traffic before it t-boned an SUV.
He said he had to remember his first responder training very quickly but always thinks of one thing, saying, "It's not easy to try to remember with that stuff going on. You just sit there and your brain starts thinking 'how am I going to handle this'. Remember, they're human, treat them as your family."
Reavis said he does not see his self as a hero, but he was at the right place at the right time and gives a word of advice to any other truck drivers, saying, "Slow down, think before you act, and treat everybody on the road as your family, because they are. They're our extended families no matter who they are, what you are, just remember we're all human and we all deserve the same respect."
He rescued three children and their grandmother from the car. They still talk to this day and keep each other updated on what is going on in their lives.
Another recipient of the award was Anthony Blunnie. He was travelling down Interstate 20 in Jackson, Mississippi when he witnessed a crash that left a van in flames.
"As soon as it happened I had the trainee stop and I jumped out," Blunnie said. "I went around to the drivers side, grabbed the fire extinguisher and I took off across the road. Not really thinking, there was just nobody else there."
Blunnie said two or three more people stopped to help, and they successfully pulled the woman out of the car. He said it was an honor to receive the award and hopes people remember to put other before themselves.
"That was great, it really was," Blunnie said. "It was totally unexpected, but there were so many other Highway angels that same year and even today, they deserve it just as much as I did. I would want somebody to do the same thing for my family that I did for her."
Blunnie said truck drivers are the eyes and ears of the highway, to take it slow, and if you see something to stop and help.
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Hannah Huffstickler is a multimedia journalist at News13. She joined the News13 team in January 2024 after graduating from Coastal Carolina University in December of 2023. Keep up with Hannah on Facebook , X, formerly Twitter , and Instagram . You can also read more of her work here .
