The FMCSA and is reportedly hard at work trying to crack down on chameleon carriers who resurrect themselves as a new company under a new name after their doors are closed for being an imminent safety hazard. Their program is still under development, so this shady practice is still at large, but before the FMCSA has even had the chance to deal with this threat, another similar situation has turned up that is potentially even more dangerous.
On November 12th, a fatal wreck occurred involving a truck owned by Two Dayes Transport. When the FMCSA went to investigate the carrier, they found something unusual. Two Dayes Transport had exactly the same address, vehicles, employees, and drivers as another company called Two Dayes Trucking. The only difference was that Two Dayes Trucking had been shut down by the FMCSA for disregarding safety regulations… that, and the fact that Two Dayes Transport was never legally allowed to run freight.
It seems like crooked company owners have found a way around having to start new companies every time their old one gets shut down; don’t bother pretending to set up a new company, just keep running freight illegally. Since the company is operating outside of the law, they don’t have to pay any attention to rules that might result in their licenses getting revoked… because they don’t have them to begin with! The FMCSA has stated that not only were the trucks unsafe, but that there was no record of any maintenance work being done on any vehicle, ever.
“Two Dayes Transport and Two Dayes Trucking are currently operating commercial motor vehicles in knowing, substantial and flagrant disregard of the Federal requirements on vehicle maintenance and repair, drivers’ hours of service, qualification of drivers, and controlled substances and alcohol use,” the out-of-service order reads. “Individually and cumulatively, these violations and conditions of operation substantially increase the likelihood of serious injury or death to Two Dayes Transport and Two Dayes Trucking drivers and to the motoring public.”
Officials from the FMCSA have made the usual trumpeting about putting an unsafe carrier out of business, but they’ve said it all before about the same company. As the rules stand, company owners aren’t in any risk of criminal charges, even if they knowingly send unsafe drivers and equipment out onto the road and “substantially increase the likelihood of serious injury or death to… drivers and to the motoring public.”
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Source: fleetowner, landline
Image Source: infotruck
Harold Carnes says
Comment on the story about Deadly Carrier,
AFew years a go I bought a New Truck, thought I was getting New, A lot of DownTime loss of revenue,3 times in the emerg Room,Why because of a poor design (fresh air intake) I have told this to the DOT,they weren’t aware of this. The chemicals to put into these certain trucks to make the exhaust cleaner coming out of the muffler, With the driver or drivers getting sick behind the wheel. (Fresh Air Intake) When the driver goes to the Hosp he or she is checked for Carbon Monoxide,but Not A Toxin Test done, Whats in Antifreeze, The regin system what is really coming out. Just how safe are the Hyways. You hear about driver found dead in there truck dyed of a heart attack, natural causes, Driver Falls A Sleep at the wheel no Skid marks just drove off the road. If there are Companys out there ,That arnt playing by the DOT Rules, The DOT wants to Shut them down,Iagree with this ,But the possibilitys of dangerous chems coming at the driver NO ONE CARES,
Kratz Leatherman says
To FMCSA, The day an OOS order is issued, DOT should be @ their gates putting boots on all tractors. Any trucks on the road should b immediately stopped & booted. More importantly, any company who flagrantly breaks the rules & endangers the lives of the public isn’t going to give a damn about some cease & desist order.
Drivers bear responsibility as well. Driving an unsafe truck is like playing russian roulette with other peoples lives, your life & your livelihood.
matt says
How could they keep running freight with no authority? That one is mind blowing…
Dianna says
This really blows my mind. How can a statement be made that the company owners are not at risk of criminal charges? How can you blatantly disregard regulations and put a driver in a vehicle with not record of maintenance go out on the road and someone gets killed or injured and not be responsible. I know in the criminal justice system of people serving time for a bad check, so why would this be at no risk of criminal?
Ray says
I’ worked for such company they change names as baby change pamper and I got the s-/:; Overworked way underpaid and took thousands of miles for year and a half now I know Y
Lee Strabel says
As the rules stand, company owners aren’t in any risk of criminal charges, even if they knowingly send unsafe drivers and equipment out onto the road and “substantially increase the likelihood of serious injury or death to… drivers and to the motoring public.”
Are you kidding me? The owners and everybody in that company should be in jail for 20 years
DonM says
Why doesnt the government prosecute these people? It seems that the government is protecting criminals instead of the law abiding citizens.
James says
i find it amusing that they act like this is a new issue.
under paid / overworked says
just called an employer that seems to think .25 per mile is a good base wage. Im not suprised to read stories like this and the brokers who also play the game.
james says
imo, if fmcsa is going to issue an oos to a company. impound every piece of equipment they have.
tractors, trailers, computers. everything they use to do business. will end up costing them more to restart. even consider freezing all bank accounts.
just my .02
Bryan says
How could they keep running freight with no authority? Because no one cares,and everyone is so afraid of losing a dollar or a job .The shippers do not care ,the customers do not care. The drivers probably don’t even know,and that load of i pads is far more important than life or limb. Not to mention big retailers that need those shipments have a lot of clout. I knew a few old companies years ago that were writing their own insurance policies. Years ago coal miners who drove mules in extremely dangerous areas and situations were told by their supervisors “be careful with that mule ,make sure he doesn’t get hurt. We can get a new man in a heartbeat ,but another mule is hard to come by” Be subject to losing a couple of dollars in order to prevent injury and death…are you kidding me ?
Dan Bowkley says
I really love the boot idea, but why not take it one step further? If NYPD can seize and crush cars belonging to illegal street racers, why cant FMCSA seize and crush trucks operated by companies like this?
Outlaw says
There are some owner-operators who were running out of mid-fl who believe in slavery. One of them at the cheap rate of .25 per mile owes me over $19,000 but he doesn’t have to pay that debt because I have a boss who will repay him. He thought it was good policy to rob me but couldn’t understand why his son kept stealing money from him…stupid!
big z says
Just goes to show how free we are fellas welcome to the wild west of trucking.
willa gilkey says
this thing about the exaust fumes is very true. when I worked for western express, my self and co-driver suffered from this. the head mechanic at the freightliner dealership told us we could have died from the amount of fumes they found excaping into the cab. we had told western express that the regeneration system wasn’t working right but told to keep going until they got us into a terminal. it went out 6 weeks later and had to be towed to the dealership. companies don’t listen when drivers tell them about issues.
BuckeyeJim says
these company owners need to loose thier liberty and get locked in a cell for a period of time.
BuckeyeJim says
Hell just seize them and sell them. only crush them if they aren’t worth fixing.
Bryan says
Companies don’t listen when drivers tell them about issues. Willa, they don’t have to listen..why? Because they know someone will drive that damn truck. If one doesn’t another one will. Leave em parked for awhile. They’ll get the hint sooner or later.
Joseph says
I worked for a company like this in woodway, tx called Lowes Precast. They changed there name apparently because of some legal issues I didn’t know why then but I have a pretty good idea now. There trucks weren’t bad but there trailers were and they did not care about hours of operation either or properly trained drivers for that matter. They put me with a flat bed trailer pulling large cement walls that were propped up on there sided with these steal A-frames chained and strapped and such. Experienced flat bedders worst nightmare and they had a guy that was running for them come out and tell me a couple of things on strapping and chaining and boomers and all that and let me go. The whole time I was thinking well I guess this is a way to get some experience with flat bed and all but the stress and the hours and the pay were absolute crap. They fired me shortly after I had an incident and told them I would not continue to run a hot log.. I actually considered calling the whistle blowers hotline on these guys.
TVadear says
What brokers, shippers, and receivers are using these cheap, illegal and unsafe companies? Let’s see some names of companies that are supporting these illegal companies. Walmart buys clothes from a company in India and when that company turns out to be unsafe it is Walmart’s fault for buying the clothes. Let’s find out who is supporting these unsafe trucking companies.
cory says
I am a truckers wife and feel the regulators for safety need to provide more outlets for driver protection. They need to look closer at the companies driver managers level and work thier way up from this level. There is A lack of supervision in this department. Drivers sit to long waiting to be loaded or unloaded without reschedule and still expected to make runs on time. It’s very frustrating to see highway patrol sit and wait for truckers just to generate revenue for their states and few places for drivers to park to get their rest. I know there are some bad drivers out there however they have made the regulations focus on drivers and not enough regulations on companies system operations like timeliness for repair request responses and time scheduling for the drivers to acomadate them to be able to comply . Drivers will need to start speaking out more about theese real issues without penalty.
Ray Berry says
I really hate to bring up this subject, as it’s a sore spot with a lot of owner ops., but as a company driver, we have a way to rein in this problem in Canada. They are called UNIONS. When we re-negotiate a contract, we make sure that not only are the rules followed for both long haul and local drivers, but also that the company holds to the standards they say they do on equipment. Period. We have given up much in terms of money in order to insure that our drivers are both safe and operating safe equipment, because we know what it costs and bargain fairly with the company we work for. We are fortunate in this regard, as many larger carriers that have to compete directly with the large US carriers do not enjoy this. When business (and brokers!) that knowingly uses those kinds of carriers to save a buck at the risk of public safety, they should be held just as liable as those who would be in the case of accidents or violations. When it slaps penny-wise/pound-foolish companies where it hurts, then things might change. Until then, the drivers will have to begin to think about protecting themselves and the public they share the road with and consider organizing. When we become just another ‘cost center’ to be minimized, it’s time to speak up and be heard and say ‘enough’ to the neo-cons and tea party types. We work very hard and long hours to earn what we do, and deserve no less than a fair wage for what we do.
Bryan says
Bingo!!!!
David Strother says
Most big companies work for investors. Bylaw their loyalty is not to you. They don’t want employees to break the rules for themselves. But I guarantee they want you to break the rules of them. There’s ways around electronic logbooks. I’ll give an example of the last trucking company I work for. Warner Enterprises. On account Out of South Boston called Aqua bath. They run bathtubs fiberglass. Sometimes if you didn’t have a place to park. And You’re out of hours .You can call the supervisor, and he will put you a line 1. And you could return to the Terminal in South Boston. But your were on line 1 for like 24 hours. It was a big deal. If at the end of that supervisor shift. If you’re still driving your still on 1 never got changed. Till you up dated your log book. But after driving for 11 hour and pass your total 14. You drive to the nearest safe haven. Park get a ten hour break in. And the next day I get call from dispatch telling me I’m still on line 1. And the driving over hours was not recorded. So I can keep driving to pick up a load. And have a fresh 14 to drive. But that instances very rare.
But you getting to the destination and actually unloading while you’re on your 10 hour break. Under Aqua bath account that’s common. You get 6 hours sleep unload and asked to Split-log. Electronic logging is not better or safer. And DOT investigators don’t know where to look for logbook discrepancies. What it does take two people to be Complicit in the crime. It takes you the driver To agree to do something illegal. So you going to go out snitch on yourself?! That makes you a whistleblower. Werner basic rate is .29 cpm / .325 cpm
Matt says
only a judge can and the irs can freeze bank accounts. have they ever considered what i have been saying all along. give each office worker of the trucking companies thier own federal safety record. That can only have entries made on it by the DOT or The FMCSA based on there work habits. point being: they may not beable to charge a dibatcher with the involvement of any cmv wreck. but making it harder for them to get another job as a disbacther when the DOT or the FMCSA puts them out of the industry permantly. due to there unsafe and i don’t care about nothing but money work habits. will make the high ways safer and bring most of the real problems with cmv maitance out. will show that drivers care more about cmv maitance and highway safety. then the people they work under in the trucking company or brokerage offices due. which is what i think the moral of the story is any ways.
cacique says
Hey man what job is that?
I can enjoy a job like that!!
Eric says
Well when companies make you sit for a week and you burn fuel keeping warm you want to run hard to make money shippers n consignees need to work with drivers not against n illegal trucks been going forever just like drugs n guns but hard to get good equipment when companies hold you up in pay for product you hauled em real battle should hit shippers n consignees wallets like they hit consumers in stores lets all put our foots down on consumer fraud n not haul for these companies time to get back to good old days were didnt matter who you drove for you helped your fellow driver out
Robin says
I drove flatbed for Swift for about 6 months , had an accident and bagged it. I was a new driver. Honestly wanted to strangle my dm and fleet manager so I avoided that mess and quit.
I’m 61 and have done a few things in my life. Driving for Swift was the absolute worst job I have ever had. Why.? Swift has no soul. I’m sure I would say that about the other big names too.
What amases me is that men allow themselves to be treated like so many cows off to the slaughter house! The american trucker is collectively THE MOST POWERFUL group of people in the country bar none. Park yer damn trucks for three days and see what happens! Quit your bitchin and DO SOMETHING!!!!! 3 days. Grocery shelves are empty, gas stations out of gas, manufacturers out of supplies. 5 days You have the country’s attention!!! And more than likely the worlds. Ships can’t unload because the ports are full and have no place to put incoming product. And nothing much leaves either. Why degrade your self and drive for some puke company that is unsafe?? ( I’m not saying Swift is unsafe. I don’t care for the corporate mindset)
Problem is most of you are so indvidualistic you can’t think much past the next reciever. And you’re happy to be fat, dumb and bitchy. You don’t understand or know the power you have as a group and you’re afraid you might lose a few bucks being parked . I belive that getting a bunch of truckers to agree on anything except how poorly they are treated would be like herding cats! So, as the old saying goes,” You’ve made your bed, now lie in it” Or just find another job. I did.