The South Dakota Trucking Association’s Safety Management Council recently named Cliff Viessman, Inc. driver Claude Raschke its 2020 Driver of the Year.
Raschke, also the December 2019 Driver of the Month, was selected from the association’s 12 monthly winners honored between the 2019 and 2020 SDTA Conventions. He received a plaque and $1,000 in recognition of his achievement.
“It is very difficult to select one driver, especially when each driver has to their credit so many miles of safe driving,” Viessman, a Gary SD-based hauler of specialty products, said in a release. “The 12 monthly winners have a combined total of nearly 22,475,000 safe driving miles and over 309 years of experience.”
Each of the 12 monthly winners were interviewed by a panel of three judges, who asked the same three questions and then selected the driver with the highest accumulated score as the 2020 Driver of the Year.
Raschke has been a professional truck driver for 26 years. He has 18 years of over-the-road (semi-tractor + trailer) experience and 5½ years of local, light-duty experience. He also has more than 2 million accident free miles to his credit.
The veteran driver and Army vet also is active in South Dakota’s trucking driving championships. He placed third in the 5-axle class in 2019.