Meet Gina Jones, FIT DRIVER’s Professional Truck Driver for May.
Gina has shared life on the road with her husband, Steve, for 14 years. Like many truck drivers, Gina earned her CDL and entered trucking as a second career at the age of 50 after leaving her first career of 28 years.
What spurred the career change?
Gina says once her youngest child left home for the Army, she decided it was time for something new. She decided to join her husband as an over-the-road driver.
Since embarking on her job as a professional driver, she’s earned numerous accoladed, including 1.6 million accident-free miles, Werner Road Team Captain, ATA America’s Road Team Captain, Operation Freedom Fleet, TA Safety Advisory Panel and the 2024 TA Citizen Driver Award.
Gina shares a common thread with other FIT DRIVERS: The fundamental belief that health and safety work together.
She believes that not only does staying healthy on the road improve safety, but it also enhances quality of life — and it just plain makes her feel better. Gina has a great perspective on staying healthy as a professional driver, reducing the chance of having a medical emergency while on the road, whether that be while driving or during a 10-hour rest break.
Any driver who’s been on the road long enough can share stories of other drivers and friends who missed a drop-off or pick-up only to later be found deceased in their truck.
Gina says she doesn’t want to be one of those statistics.
Getting exercise and making better food choices is one important step in preventing such tragic events. To help keep her diet on track, she prepares most of the meals she and Steve eat while on the road. It’s not only healthier, she says, but it’s also more cost-effective.
Gina — like most of the drivers I’ve interviewed during my years as a health advocate for the trucking industry — is quick to share stories of her family and stress the importance of family values.
Staying healthy allows Gina to enjoy her home time with family. As an added bonus, she says, the extra energy she’s discovered helps her keep up with her grandkids. She wants to be around long enough to watch them grow up.
In addition to her driving career and her family, Gina finds time to support military veterans.
In August 2025, she completed the 50 Mile March to raise money to help military vets, and she’s currently training for the 2026 march. In 2025, she rucked (for non-military folks, that’s walking or running while carrying a weighted pack) 50 miles — from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Omaha — in 22 hours.
50 Mile March is a nonprofit foundation that helps local veterans who are struggling with homelessness and mental health. This is what Gina finds to motivate herself to stay in shape while being on the road.
“I believe it is important for each driver to find something to motivate themselves,” she said. “Having a platform to follow daily helps keep me on track. I also talk to a coach every week to hold me accountable for my choices last week, whether those choices involve food or exercise.”
Gina lives by this statement: “Behind every safe mile is a series of smart decisions.”
To find out more about 50 Mile March, visit 50milemarch.org. To donate to Gina’s 2026 effort, click here.
Bob Perry is a regular contributor to The Trucker. He has spent nearly the past four decades on a mission to educate professional drivers and share life-changing products and services to help them live healthier lives while on the road. Recognized throughout the transportation industry, from bus drivers to over-the-road professional drivers, Perry has played an important role in creating a paradigm shift helping regulatory agencies, private and public sector entities, and consumers understand the current health challenges of the professional driver. He has participated as a wellness advocate in several roundtable discussions, large audience groups and small forums as well as going “curbside” through a national truck stop tour.
Bob’s articles have been featured in The Trucker and a number of other national transportation industry publications and is the host of a weekly wellness call produced by Rolling Strong. Bob has been a regular guest on RedEye Radio and Land-Line Radio, and is often an invited guest on Sirius radio shows. He has been featured in the New York Times, Men’s Health Magazine, Drug Store News, American Road Magazine, WSJ, NPR, ABC National Radio, as well as hundreds of daily newspapers. He has appeared on television news shows across the nation, including a featured TV segment on ABC NightLine News.
