The map of Ed Heard’s career can best be described as following the call of opportunity.
He never intended to be a truck driver — but now he’s in the running for the biggest award any tanker driver can earn. Heard, who’s driven for Highway Transport for a decade, is in the running for the National Tank Truck Carriers (NTTC) association’s 2023-24 Driver of the Year award.
“I had never heard of (the award), actually,” Heard told The Trucker. “When one of the managers came to me with it, he just said, ‘Hey, Ed, we want to nominate you for driver of the year.’ I said, ‘OK.’”
A little confused about exactly what he was being nominated for, Heard asked around.
“Then I talked the vice president of safety in corporate,” he said. “He explained everything to me — that we were talking about something huge. I thought they were talking about something just company-wide, but they were talking about something on a national stage.”
According to the NTTC, the award spotlights drivers who demonstrate exceptional driving skills, a strong commitment to safety and a history of community service. Heard is one of eight finalists; the winner will be announced during the association’s annual conference in May.
Heard may have only been driving a comparatively short time, but when it comes to setting a good example, he’s an old pro. He came to trucking after a nearly 30-year career in law enforcement with the Houston Police Department. While there, he received special training in defusing situations involving suspects with mental health issues.
“In Harris County, Houston, there is an actual mental health group,” he said. “Us deputies, that’s a lot of what we did — we picked up people that were in crisis. It could be very dangerous sometimes, but it also taught me to be a better listener, to be empathetic when I needed to be. It taught me to be a good judge of character. It just gave me an uncanny way of solving problems and relaying messages.”
After retiring from the force, Heard dabbled in business ownership and spent more time with his beloved pursuit of hunting and fishing. However, he found that one generally came at the expense of another, so he sold his business without much thought to what he’d do next professionally.
“I just so happened to be on a hunting trip, and a guy that was a commercial driver watched me back a 30-foot trailer into this hole,” he said. “He brought it up to me and asked me if I’d ever thought about driving a semi. I was like, ‘No, that’s nothing I’ve ever thought about.’
“He gave me some information and I told him I’d look into it,” he continued. “I thought it was interesting, and I thought, ‘You know what? Can’t hurt to have a CDL.’ I didn’t really know at the time how much was entailed in it. I was just thinking I could get a license and just have it. That’s kind of how it started.”
The more he considered embarking on a second career behind the wheel and on the open road, the more convicted he became that if he was going to do this job, he was going to be the best at it.
For Heard, that meant driving a tanker.
“I look at everything from every angle,” he said. “When I started first getting interested in driving, I started looking at the whole industry. I was like, ‘If I’m going to get into this, it’s going to be the most dangerous (option), for better pay. As long as I have a commercial license this is what I’ll do, chemical tanking.’”
Many drivers shy away from tankers in general — and even many tanker drivers hesitate to haul chemicals because of the many challenges and hazards that come with that brand of trucking. Heard, by contrast, gravitated toward it, signing on with Highway Transport’s chemical division. He says the experiences of his previous career were invaluable for gaining proficiency and confidence in his current one.
“I believe anybody that is a new commercial driver, no matter what industry you’re in, it’s going to be a learning process,” he said. “It’s a big learning curve with all of us. I’m glad I didn’t go into other types of trucking first, because tanker is all I had to learn and focus on and get better at.
“I tell you what, it was a lot easier because I already had the mental fortitude for danger and something real critical,” he explained. “I was already equipped with that. Everything that I’ve learned in my multifaceted background applied to being a tank truck professional. I think that’s kind of why I’m in this moment. It made me better.”
Heard says one of the biggest hurdles he had to navigate in his new role was personal: His wife, Aileen, didn’t initially like the idea of him driving because she thought he’d be gone all the time. Luckily, that was not the case. Heard has settled into a set route between Houston and Dallas that allows him to be home every night.
As an added bonus, he gets to spend time mentoring other drivers, something he relishes about his role.
“Mentoring is my passion. I’ve probably trained over a hundred new guys, and I’d be willing to bet that 60 to 65 of them have personal issues that affected their training. It affects their learning, because they’re distracted,” he said. “If tenured drivers do not mentor drivers that are coming behind them, then you’re not helping your industry. Each one has to teach one in order for things to get better.”
Heard’s mentees are privileged to have someone who’s a good listener, but who also pulls no punches when talking about the keys to success.
“You’re going to have to put in the work, and you have to be safe, always,” he said. “When you’re a new driver, you’re very nervous and you’re afraid, probably. Well, that meant you got out and looked things over, you were extra careful with your mirrors, safety was a high priority.
“Don’t ever lose that. Don’t get complacent. Safety has to be a priority and it has to be first,” he concluded.
Dwain Hebda is a freelance journalist, author, editor and storyteller in Little Rock, Arkansas. In addition to The Trucker, his work appears in more than 35 publications across multiple states each year. Hebda’s writing has been awarded by the Society of Professional Journalists and a Finalist in Best Of Arkansas rankings by AY Magazine. He is president of Ya!Mule Wordsmiths, which provides editorial services to publications and companies.
