Every year, hundreds of unsafe trucking companies large and small are shut down by the FMCSA. More and more often these companies are reopened by the same owners, with the same employees, the same equipment, and based in the same location with only a name change. These “chameleon carriers” are able to operate for months, even years before the FMCSA gets around to shutting them down again.
Carriers not only close their doors to reopen under a new name when the FMCSA demands it, but some also use this tactic to avoid paying debts to other companies and to drivers. When a carrier closes down, its owners have no legal obligation to pay outstanding debts which means that drivers often have no way to get paychecks that are owed to them. Companies that do this will often be months or more behind on paying their drivers.
In a new step to try and keep these unsafe carriers off of the road, the FMCSA is proposing a rule that would target the owners of carriers in addition to the companies themselves. The proposal would ”enable the Agency to suspend or revoke the operating authority registration of motor carriers that permit persons who have shown egregious disregard for safety compliance to act on their behalf.” This means that if the owner of a previously shuttered company tries to start up a new one, he can be shut down immediately without him being able to endanger his drivers or the public.
This is a huge step in the right direction to get unsafe carriers shut down permanently, but we as a community will need to make sure that this is not used to shut out owner-operators or small fleets who have minor infractions. This could be a huge win for drivers everywhere, we just need to make sure the new rule isn’t abused; we cannot let this be used as a tool to give more of the industry over to the large carriers. Make your voice heard and comment on the proposed rule here.
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Source: ttnews
Image Source: aafe.org
KILL the laywers. These big companies seem to have all the money in the world, as long as they have a good legal team working for them they will flourish, and yes, once again the little guy just trying to make it WILL suffer, because the government will have to point to someone and say “see it’s working” So the little guy gets put out and the big pigs go on and on.
well i think if your and unsafe carrier then you should be shutdown and not be able to open up again no matter what or how you try to do so.but it has got to be a level playing field i have driving otr for the last 25yrs and i have seen alot of carriers trucks big and small that should not be on the road as well as the drivers that opperate them .
safety is the biggest governmental loophole
Gee safety …Brought to us by the same people who think its safe to take our freedom and liberties and bury them in trillions of dollars of debt…You want safety in trucking tell this hurry up and wait insanity to take a chill pill and …Raise the rates to fully compensate a persons time and bunk rat living…That would be a step…Second do away with the stupid Hours of service and go to a straight daily mileage ….So newbie trucking idiots aren’t racing against a clock….Stupidest thing ever thinking your going to …Make safety ..Pushing people against a clock….How dumb is that ….Third go to a simple straightforward every 6 month or 60,000 mile vehicle inspection for every truck where you get it inspected and a pass sticker …And make the DOT work for their pay …Other than that ..You can never fix stupid..and accidents will always happen..and you can’t control mother nature …