A trucker from Texas has had his operating authority revoked after his truck crossed over the median and caused a fatal accident. After the crash, authorities discovered that he was missing a huge number of records and could have been taken off the road before the crash for a multitude of reasons.
It was just before 11:00am on a Tuesday when 42-year-old Steven Wayne Johnson’s truck crossed over the center line and struck a vehicle carrying a young mother and her two children, killing all three. Investigators would later attribute the crash to Johnson having been on duty for at least 21 hours in a row, as well as the cannabinoids and PCP found in his system.
Law enforcement pointed to this incident as the perfect example of a dangerous driver who should have been kept off the road for any number of reasons somehow managed to avoid notice. A drug test would have disqualified him, a log book check on the day of the accident would have disqualified him, and a log book check at any point in the previous six months almost certainly would have disqualified him.
According to the FMCSA, when they looked over Johnson’s records-of-duty-status from the previous six months, he was missing 70 of the 160 records he was supposed to have, and had never bothered to record any off-duty time during those six months. Even a cursory inspection of his log book during a routine stop should have been enough to raise red flags, but somehow Johnson was able to continue driving.
Now that the damage has been done, Johnston has had his operating authority revoked. He is now facing multiple felony charges including two counts of involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence.
Source: overdrive, ccj, wibwnewsnow, ksnt
Trucka T says
Sad so sad…. This screw up only encourages the advancement of autonomous vehicles………i love trucking, but I hate the irresponsible actions drivers make that endanger everyone…. This job comes with great responsibility. Not everyone can or should be allowed to drive a truck
Anthony says
Amen!!!
Matthew Ewers says
Wait, how is that involuntary manslaughter????? He was knowingly driving way over his hours, he knowingly did not keep up his logbook so he could drive illegal, he knowingly did illegal drugs. If I was the judge in thus case I would have the DA change those charges from involuntary manslaughter to 3 counts if first degree premeditated murder.
asafegous says
He didn’t get in his truck with the intent of killing those specific people = manslaughter
Phil Casey says
I don’t care what his intent was. Stand him up against a wall & shoot him. Or, find a lifer where he is staying and deposit money in to his commissary account for the next 70 months.
anthony says
so you don’t know what premeditated means huh? this is text book vehicular homicide. but def should be upgraded because of his criminal negligence.
Eric Dyer says
It could be classified as premeditated because he knowingly put the motoring public in danger by his actions
Les says
What does his diesel exhaust fluid have to do with it ?
Les Gvt says
def- as in “definition”
CW says
Actually it’s “def” meaning definitely. If you reread the sentence with each word in place, definition doesn’t make sense.
That being said, the man needs to fry for what he did. People like him give truck drivers a bad name
jason says
def as in “definitely”, actually.
Miguel Ortiz says
Hahaha hahaha
MrCoffee says
I absolutely agree with Matthew Ewers. It sounds more like premeditated murder to me. Life without parole should be the absolute minimum, so he can serve as an example of what happens when people do something stupid.
Wesley Cory says
That’s what I’m thinking.
Rick Lane says
Absolutely.
Cathy says
The shame here is that as long as the CDL mills keep cranking out new drivers this will continue to happen. Very few take responsibility for their actions and trucking is no different.
Rick Lane says
How do you know.!!!. Thus guy was from a CDL MILL.????.
lonestar says
You have no premeditation and you have no intent when your asleep at the wheel.
Pat says
True it obviously wasn’t premeditated since he didn’t know those people or choose to kill them. Definitely irresponsible and incapable of knowing his limitations. Bozos like that give truck drivers a bad name.
Max says
One low life’s actions paints all of us with the same brush in the public’s eye.
Robert says
One thing I didn’t see in the comments….
How does this make the Texas DOT look? Watch those scales start opening a great deal more now. They may have to pay if sued and guess who gets to pay it for them??
Brigita says
With all those real serious charges against him, he got only ‘manslaughter’? Who allowed him to drive in first place? Those kind of drivers give the trucking industry a bad name! There are many good, law abiding, hard working professional drivers out there!
Rick Lane says
Correct..I took great pride in having no accidents.. Only got too drive for 5 yrs. Before, illness got me put outta the industry.
Reese says
Dum,Dum,
Lona says
Truly sad, he definitely should be charged with vehicular homicide. Driving commercial motor vehicles is not something that just anyone can/should do. It carries great responsibility, laws that must be followed.
Will says
In everything, there will always be some bad apples in the bunch. You have good doctors and you have quacks. Good parents and bad and so on. This person is an ass. Drugs to keep awake? I do feel for the victims ..wrong place at the wrong time.. This bum could have driven taxi or something, to eat… He gets no love . A waste by all accounts
Mike says
If he actually had been inspected at any time during the periods mentioned, then the inspecting officers should be held accountable as well. If he wasn’t inspected then all of those “could haves” are irrelevant.
Mike says
You are correct. A full investigation by an outside agency should be done on the performance of the DOT agency who really has to take brunt of the blame here. Where did the Texas DOT fail in it’s review and enforcement of the law in this case, and what other companies are “flying under the radar” as well due to Poor Performance of a Government Agency that taxpayers and the trucking industry is funding?
The public is not getting the protection they are paying for. Time for change at that agency.
Les Gvt says
They are required to do audits on 3% of all companies each year- and they are barely staffed well enough to do it. Our local office has one full time and one part time doing audits- she does other federal mandates the rest of the time. They also are having issues keeping up with the flood of new companies starting up thanks to the numbers of immigrants the feds are buying trucks for and helping start up with very little training or knowledge. Once again- the cancer of the problem is spread from DC
Sandman says
The whole story smells fishy…as for “painting us all with a broad brush”, this was not in a big truck but a small box truck. I know that the same rules apply, but I don’t thing half of these guys ever cross the scales, therefore there is no need to be current w/logs, etc. Part truth in this story, part truck smear campaign.
Steve Cooper says
Where do u get meth? It said pcp and Mary jane…
Steve Cooper says
Not promoting meth, dope is dope!
dj says
More fuel for mandatory e-logs for everyone
Juan Robledo says
This is one incident that went under the radar is an indication that others probably have gone unnoticed, maybe a better deterrent is to have open scales and conduct level 1 inspections and check the company’s history, driver’s information thoroughly and put these companies and drivers out of service and cite them with major fines where either the company goes out of business, and if they try to resurface under a new name nail their behinds and keep track of their moves, revoke, pull their operating authority, anything that will hamper their efforts
Ray says
Keeping drivers legal is not easy to do when you’re dealing with indys. These trucks don’t drive them self, they have a responsible driver. There is no way to know who will be honest and who is not.
Also, people with drug addiction(s) are considered mentally unstable so this guy has some serious over laying issues and like anyone with this problem will make bad decisions.
Brown mat says
Many small companies don’t want to play by rules so they get big fines when get cut cheating and as result they become out of business. Once there is a law it’s for everyone not just for few. Don’t take short cuts people. Do it right!! Don’t mess with the big guyes
R.P. says
I was at one time leased to a company that was one of the top ten refrigerated companies in the nation. The one thing I appreciated was that they rotated every driver through the main yard once every month for a records check. Before you were dispatched, you had to report to Safety, where they went over your log book entries since the last check, and confirmed whether all your permits and tags were up to date. Any glitch, even a hiccup and you were not sent back out until everything was A-Okay. Of course, when the “old man” retired and his oldest son took over, the company went straight down the crapper and is no longer in existence. I don’t miss it.
Mike says
So what Bothers me here is that, it was the system that was put in place that caused those deaths. The Texas DOT did not do their job correctly. Where was the enforcement of the enforcers? The Texas DOT obviously needs more Public oversight and accountability monitoring to make sure they are doing their jobs. The system had mechanisms in place to remove this driver from the road, yet the application of this process failed.
Pam says
This is a case where the government will come down on ALL drivers… There are already laws in place, enforce them and the issues would largely be minimized nationally.
It seems that we, truckers, get the brunt of the blame for issues that should have been avoided by our current authorities ENFORCING current laws. Deaths are horrible and accidents do happen, but when a completely avoidable accident which causes death happens…. Enforcement needs to be addressed! How was the driver on the road in the first place?
retired trucker says
THe trucking industry and it’s “customers” encourage this and just say ,”Dont get caught!” But willing turn a blind eye so they can keep the customers happy and the revenues rolling in.All of those loads that the company dispatchers plead < we Need to get it there so the customer doesnt run out,then you get there and their loading dock and warehouse people tell you they are so over stocked they dont know where they are going to put it.THe drivers that dont keep pushing it,find themselves'laid off or fired at the first chance the company gets.So drivers have to keep pushing it to feed their families and keep what might be the only job in their area.
Linda PV says
Who. What. When. Where. Why. Learn it. Remember it. Live it.
Trucker's Wife says
I don’t quite get the point of the article. Maybe I’m missing something because I don’t live in TX, but how would the highway patrol pull EVERY SINGLE driver over to check for violations? No way that they have the man power to do that. Even if they do level 1’s on everyone at scales, it’s usually not that hard to avoid a scale, especially if you KNOW you are running illegally.
Bill says
OK, in this old retired hand’s opinion, the only one to blame is the idiot driving. He personally has the responsibility to keep himself in line, and drive safe.
Now, having said that, just before I retired from trucking, I heard that all the Pre-Pass stations were going to be interlinked to monitor every unit going through it, and store the info. Down the road, if a unit went through another Pre-Pass and the HOS looked like a violation, it would be red flagged, and at least a level 3 would take place, (team drivers would be noted.) Sounded to me like more harassment,
On a personal note, every time I went into New Mexico I got red-flagged for a lever 3. Only took a few minutes, and the DOT personal acted almost embarrassed, as they got to know me. They thanked me every time for having my records so neat, and understanding that the computer flagged me at random.
As soon as I switched companies, I never went through another inspection in NM. It figured as the new company would have paid me for no violations. I had a laptop, a logging program, and a $49.00 printer and my logs were always legal, neat, and easily read. While it was not electronic logging, (I.E. not wired into the tractor,) I could print out my logs as far back as I needed.
While the behavior of this driver was inexcusable, being able to slip through the safe guards points out that no system is foolproof, but in the end, he knew what he was doing was wrong, and he had enough sense to hide it. That gives him all the responsibility. Yes, the DOT safeguards has a few holes, and there will always be a criminal out there exploiting them. It’s a damm shame the Mother and Children had to pay the cost. My condolences to the family.
Les Gvt says
It is idiotic fools such as this that have given you the electronic log mandate, and will also bring you speed limiters
FatGarfield says
His truck would have been exempt from ELD mandate, and the speed limiter would not have stopped that truck from crossing a double line. While industry advocates will use these type of statistics to support ELD mandate and speed limiters, it is ultimately upto law enforcement to enforce the laws in place that would have helped to prevent this.
Les Gvt says
it would be nice if TR would give more details- such as location- where these events occur. That way you can do more research if so inclined as to what a more complete story on the incident looks like
David says
It’s no different in trucking as it is in many other jobs that require the operator be a responsible person! Most all jobs require, that the person doing the job is responsible and qualified . Should you not care about your job then it’s obvious you will not care about the ones your job effects! One should always be considerate as to others in the performance of ones duty. Making a living with a truck is tough, but you also are operating a heavy vehicle in to close proximity of the public. We all know that the other non professional drivers at some times are stupid , to put it nicely. It’s up to us to be at our best when behind the wheel , so that we won’t have a guilty conscience should something happen. We don’t know all the facts about this and shouldn’t be pointing fingers! I know for a fact , that it takes 12 good jobs to overcome 1 bad one !!! Trouble is that not many want to talk about the ” Good Job ” , it’s not as exciting .
Jeremy says
Drivers are responsible to submit all documentation they accumulate to the company’s safety and compliance dept no later than 14 days after the fact regardless of being a company driver or an o/o. If such gross violations occured over such a long period of time the company is also libel. Companies are responsible to place drivers out of service under these types of circumstances and refrain from issuing any dispatch until a driver regains regulated compliance.
Hondo says
He is just the type of dangerous menace on the road that brags about running multiple log books to fool Dot. Running several log books doesn’t make you a “cool rebel who outsmart s DOT”. It makes you a potential killer of a mother and her children.
Gabby says
There’s somthing not right with this story? There’s no way this guy got away that long without a long book inspection and if he did. Then this falls on the DOT this is bull #*%# Trucking is so over regulated that it sticks. I’m not saying the driver didn’t screw up No No !
He was very Irresponsible and should share the Responsibility…
Come on ( 6 months ) No DOT asked for a look at his log book if that’s the case then I hold them
(The Feds) also responsible..
The Family who lost there loved ones needs to go after them for not keeping there promise to make sure that the Highways Safe… When I jump on this Big Metal Horse I make sure that I’m legal before I turn that.
CW says
Why are you all hammering Texas DOT so hard? Nowhere in the story does it say that he was checked prior to the accident, and let go with his mess of issues. I drove in Texas for almost 8 years before the first time I got checked, either at a scale house or on the side of the road.. it’s like someone indicated, you can’t pull every single truck over. I agree there should be a better way to stay on top of issues like this driver had. But it doesn’t sound like it was TXDOT’s fault
kev says
Although I HATE government intervention, this is one for the Electronic Logs.
Don says
This sort of thing is tragic. However, let’s be clear, the solution to this is more open scales and more level 1 inspections along with more inspections of company records. Are you willing to have DOT breathing down our collective throats even more than they already do? I hear plenty of complaining about big bad DOT harassing us. This would take it to a whole new level.
R.B. Barnby says
I think the company he ran for has a hand in this too.. They obviously did not moniter his logs very well or they would have taken him off the road..
Infosaur says
The way this article was written it makes it seem like this guy LOGGED 21 consecutive on duty hours!
Yet he forgot to put in his off duty? (Also the accident was at 11am so that means he hadn’t had a change of status since 2pm the prior day.)
I doubt the guy worked overnight, probably lazy and didn’t Line One after work.
But the drugs and general sloppy bookkeeping should put him away for a while.
Patrick says
He allowed himself to drive because he was an Owner operator. At least that’s what I am understanding from the qoute “his operating authority has been revoked” so I am assuming that he was an Owner Operator. however it really is a shame owner op or not when criminally minded people get behind the wheel and drive it makes us all look bad. That’s why I am not behind the wheel right now because some shifferbrain with no insurance coverage decided to continue to drive and rearended me while I was on my bicycle on my way to get in the truck to drive. It’s been a year now since I have been in a truck I am hoping that I can get back to driving soon because I hear the call of the road. Anyhow if you aren’t supposed to be on the road get your ass off the road so that all of us sane law abiding citizens can make it home for dinner.
Anthony says
Reefer, and PCP???!!!! There are things that a person can take so many hours before doing the piss test that can cleanse your system…It’s losers like this that make the industry bad for everyone else that is doing it right…ELDS are not going to solve the problem of those using dope on the road…This is indeed vehicular homicide, and what about the husband and father??!! I’m so, so sorry sir that this happened to your family…Many drivers out there are doing it right, and safely…It’s losers like this that put a permanent stain on the trucking industry.