On Friday, Illinois carrier C & D Transportation, Inc. was shutdown after being declared an ” imminent hazard to public safety.”
Since June of 2012, several inspections of C & D Transportation, Inc. trucks have been done and several safety violations have been found. According to the Out-of -Service order, C & D Transportation, Inc. was cited four times for drivers not having a valid CDL, six citations were given for the loads exceeding vehicle weight limit and at least six citations were given for failure to meet English proficiency requirements.
In October, FMCSA served C & D Transportation, Inc. with an “expedited action letter.” The letter addressed safety issues that were found during roadside inspections from December 2011 to September 2012 the company needed to rectify. They were:
- Seven instances of drivers not having a valid CDL.
- One instance of a driver operating a vehicle that had been placed out of service.
- On instance of a driver who had been placed out of service operating a vehicle.
In the FMCSA statement, the FMCSA said C&D Transportation, Inc. “engaged in and continues to engage in a pattern and practice of blatantly ignoring and/or violating significant provisions of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety regulations.”
A third letter was sent to the company on October 26, 2012. The letter insisted the company respond to charges of yet another driver who had been placed out of service operating vehicles.
On November 2, 2012, another letter was sent to C&D stating that if the company did not provide a satisfactory response to the charges by November 6, 2012, the company would be placed out of service.
On November 12, 2012, a C&D truck was involved in an accident. The accident report stated that the vehicle failed to stop at a stop sign and overturned the vehicle. The Pennsylvania police cited the driver with failing to possess a driver’s record of duty status, operating in violation of an out- of- service order and an English proficiency violation.
On November 23, 2012, FMCSA ordered C&D out of service.
“C & D Transportation, Inc. has willfully violated an out-of-service order and continued to operate by renting vehicles on the effective date of the out-of-service order, one of which crashed; has failed to ensure that its drivers comply with commercial driver’s license requirements, English proficiency requirements, and vehicle weight limits; and has committed records of duty status violations. C & D Transportation, Inc.’s flagrant disregard for compliance with safety regulations poses an ongoing and continuing imminent hazard to public safety and must be discontinued immediately,” the order stated.
If C&D fails to comply with the order, the company will face a fine of up to $25,000 per day.