Kathy Konicki, the retired director of associate safety at Nationwide Insurance, was the recipient of the first-ever Fleet Safety Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her promotion of fleet safety at Nationwide and throughout the industry.

The award was presented by Mike Antich, conference chair, during a lunchtime awards ceremony at the 2014 Fleet Safety Conference, which was held in Schaumburg, Ill., from July 22 to July 23. The award was created and sponsored by Bobit Business Media, publisher of Automotive Fleet.

During his presentation, Antich noted some of Konicki's numerous achievements, including:

• Reducing crash frequency rates from 10.92 to 2.65 per million miles traveled, and reducing the cost of crashes by 75 percent.

• Eliminating driver fatalities. Since the inception of the Nationwide fleet safety program, there have been no driver fatalities. Prior to the implementation of the program, the company experienced one or more fatalities per year.

• Nearly eliminating the incident of driver DUI incidents.

• Reducing the number of "at risk" drivers by nearly 90 percent, as defined by the Nationwide Insurance fleet safety program.

In addition, the company's fleet safety program was recognized by federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) officials as one of the top 10 fleet safety programs in the country.

Konicki was unable to attend the ceremony in person, so Antich accepted the award on her behalf. Antich did speak to Konicki via telephone prior to the ceremony and reported that she was "honored to receive the award."

The Fleet Safety Lifetime Achievement Award is not an annual award. It will be presented when there is an honoree the sponsors feel should be recognized for their career-spanning efforts to promote fleet safety.