Cape Girardeau postal employee wins national safety award

~ The award is given to carriers who deliver mail for 30 years without a preventable accident.

No matter the weather or traffic conditions, city and rural carriers deliver mail to every addressee across the states, 302 days a year. One local postal worker recently received recognition for spending 30 of those years accident-free.

"I've never had a close call with an accident," said Gary Bohannon, U.S. Postal Service carrier in Cape Girardeau, who won the Million Mile Safety Award from the National Safety Council on Wednesday.

The award, from the not-for-profit organization dedicated to protecting life and promoting health, is given out to carriers who deliver mail for 30 years without a "preventable accident." That's any accident that causes as little as $1 worth of damage, according to Dan Strauss, manager of customer services at the Frederick St. post office.

Strauss said the carrier might drive more than a million miles but it takes 25,000 hours on the road to be so honored. Bohannon drives about 20 miles a day.

"To have achieved this award is a rarity," said Evie Tan-Todd, officer in charge of Cape Girardeau postal services since November. She's given out one award in the six years she worked at the post office in Olathe, KS.

Bohannon is the first to join the Million Mile Club in the past 15 years in Cape Girardeau.

"I'm pretty much speechless," Bohannon said upon receiving the solid walnut plaque along with a check for $140.50. When asked to give advice to the other 39 carriers at the post office, he simply said, "Follow the mail route, you'll be all right."

Strauss cut in. "What he means is, don't take shortcuts and don't take risks. There's a lot of details Gary pays attention to every day to keep out of harm's way."

Bohannon accepted the award and went back to sorting mail.

"To a lot of customers, carriers are invisible. They just see the mail truck," said Strauss. "But we go to every household in the U.S. every day."

At the Cape Girardeau post office, Wayne Chapmann came close to Bohannon's driving record, though his 29 1/2 years without incident came to a sliding stop when he went off the road during a delivery. There was black ice on his rural route, which contains three or four gravel streets.

Chapmann's near 30-year clean record went back to day one after his accident two years ago. "I'm working on it again," he said.

In 2006 there were four accidents with Cape Girardeau postal workers, according to Strauss, and two more this year. All were minor, he noted.

The other day a car stopped at a green light and, not expecting the brakes to be hit at that moment, a carrier rear-ended the car. Strauss called it a preventable accident because his carriers are told to follow the three-second rule -- do not pass any stable object until three seconds after the vehicle in front of you does.

An example of a nonpreventable accident happened in the parking lot of a shopping center when a customer, as Strauss put it, backed out of a parking spot into a mail truck. That time the carrier followed the rule; take caution in parking lots and look for brake lights. But the at-fault driver was quick to hit the gas.

"I'm a million miler myself, but it ain't about me today," said Strauss, who delivered mail for 37 1/2 years. As it turns out, Strauss received a plaque bearing the Million Mile Club world emblem and an engraved nameplate Wednesday, along with Bohannon.

"I didn't want to take anything away from Gary," Strauss said. "It's kind of a nice thing. I'll hang it in my office until I retire," he went on to say, as he covered the award with a letter on his desk.

tkrakowiak@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137