One million safe miles and counting, Team Driver of the Month, a Werner Road Team Captain, a TravelCenters of America Citizen Driver winner, an ATA America’s Road Team Captain, and a member of Werner’s Operation Freedom Fleet. Few drivers have a résumé that can compete with that of Gina Jones—and she accomplished that in less than 13 years.
Being a professional truck driver is Jones’s second career. She worked in retail management for 28 years before her husband convinced her to live life on the road with him as a trucker. After her youngest son went into the Army, Jones decided to get her CDL and drive a truck as a team with her husband. They weighed their options carefully before deciding to work for Werner Enterprises.
“Going away from my social life was going to be hard on me, and I knew it,” Jones told FleetOwner. “Sitting in the driver's seat for 10 to 11 hours a day—it wasn't something that I was excited to do. But I'm all about challenges and getting myself out there and seeing what I can do to achieve a higher level.”
And she did achieve. It took Jones only eight and a half years to complete one million safe miles on the road, and she did it before her husband. She now drives a specially wrapped “million miler” truck.
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Since then, she’s collected awards, nominations, and leadership positions. Whenever Jones achieves a goal, she asks, "What's my next one?" She plans to reach two million miles of safe driving before she retires.
Encouraging the next generation of truckers through leadership and mentorship
Jones wants to mentor other women looking for a successful and meaningful career. She wants to “help bring in the new generation—or the older generation like I was when I started,” Jones explained.
“It's a great feeling when you can bring women into the trucking industry," she said. "They're faced with many men, and what an accomplishment just to go forward and say, ‘I'm going to do this in a man's world.’”
When Jones first began driving for Werner, 6% of its drivers were female. “I thought that was amazing!” Jones said. Now, 16% of its drivers are female–a fact that Jones takes pride in.
Though it would be hard for anyone to believe after watching Jones light up while discussing her job, she experienced some self-doubt when she first began her career in trucking.
“My obstacle was having enough confidence when I first drove ... in what I can do if it's backing, being nervous going into shippers your first time and what to expect, not knowing exactly where you're going,” Jones shared.
Before heading out on the road, she learned that by taking a deep breath, planning her route, and simply just buckling her seat belt helped calm her nerves. As for her confidence, Jones’s husband always assured her that she was more than capable of driving a truck. “You do this every day in your car,” he would say. “You can do it in a truck!”
Now, her confidence has spilled over into leadership positions in the industry, which have given her a platform to make a difference in her truck-driving community and beyond. She’s spoken on panels aimed at other men and women in the industry about what women face on the road, whether it’s negative comments—like the time Jones was at a truck stop and a man asked why she wasn’t home taking care of her children—or harassment—like what Jones and countless other women face regularly. If the perpetrator is a fellow truck driver, Jones teaches women the proper way to respond.
“My first encounter, I didn't do the right thing. I didn't get the license, and I didn't get a picture,” Jones said. “So, I make sure that I can pass that along to women—get the license plate, whatever you can.”
Educating the public and beyond
Aside from helping make trucking a better environment for women and encouraging other females to join her as a trucker, Jones also travels around the country with Operation Freedom Fleet, going to military bases and schools, encouraging soldiers coming out of the military to join the trucking industry. As an ATA America’s Road Team captain, Jones and her husband spend time educating the public about truck safety and teaching students at high schools about blind spots. They also interact with the government; just recently, as part of Truckers Against Trafficking, Jones educated 25 lawmakers in Reno, Nevada, about the components of a trailer.
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Jones exudes pride when speaking about her job and being part of the trucking industry.
“I would never look back [and think] that I made the wrong decision, because I didn't,” Jones explained. “Being a female truck driver, I absolutely love it. I shine. I smile. I'm happy.”
