Since he was seven years old, John Fedeli seemed destined to spend his life on the open road.

Fedeli, who was born and raised in Niles, would spend his summers off of school tagging along with his stepfather, who was a truck driver.

“We had a lot of fun,” Fedeli said. “I used to love going to the steel mills … I decided when I was really young that yes, this is really interesting and this is what I wanted to do.”

He’s been driving ever since.

Most recently, Fedeli has been driving for Rinchem Company Inc., a global provider of chemical management solutions and the company honored Fedeli recently for driving 1 million miles without a single accident, ticket or safety violation.

“We are proud to recognize John for such a notable accomplishment,” said Chuck Breinholt, president of Rinchem. “It is through the quiet, often unnoticed reliability, consistency and integrity of drivers like John that Rinchem has been able to establish a reputation for reliability and logistics excellence.”

Fedeli was honored with an “Ambassadors of the Road” award. The company presented him with a new Peterbilt tractor which includes a large sleeper, refrigerator, 13-speed transmission and other amenities.

“We have quite a few drivers and this is a fairly rare occurrence just with all the driving that they do,” said Brian Crow, global marketing manager for Rinchem. “To have a driver like John achieve this kind of distinction is really rare and really says a lot about John and his carefulness and following regulations and his safety …”

The honor came as a surprise even to Fedeli himself.

“In the time period that I hit it with Rinchem, it really was a surprise,” Fedeli said. “To achieve the million mile marker took seven years … It kind of surprised me also but I worked really hard to get the award.”

“He’s kind of humble,” Crow said.

Typically Fedeli said he gets home every other week for a couple of days. When he’s out on the road, he’s often thinking of family. On a Saturday or Sunday his truck will more than likely be seen parked outside his home, he said.

Hitting America’s highways since 1971, Fedeli likely has a treasure trove of memories, sights and sounds.

“I’ve been in just about every state in the country,” he said. “There’s been so many different places, so many different things. The painted desert early in the morning is beautiful, the Grand Canyon early in the morning is beautiful … To say ‘this is the most memorable scene’ it would be hard. There are just so many beautiful places in this country I can’t just say (there is) one significant thing that stands out.”

But for the man with a million safe miles traveled, one thing that does stick with him are the scenes of unfortunate accidents and unparalleled storms.

“Some of the traffic things that go on out here, the storms, the roadways and travel and some of the accidents I’ve seen, they stay with me and make me operate just a little bit safer and with a little bit more caution,” Fedeli said. “Some of the accidents that I’ve seen that stay on my mind, they help me focus a bit more on being a safe driver and being cautious and giving people on the highway a little bit more leeway.”