FMCSA orders South Dakota trucking company, owner/driver off the road for drug and CDL violations

The  Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has ordered a South Dakota-based trucking company and a driver fmto immediately cease operations for violating multiple safety regulations.

On November 19, 2021, Rapid City, South Dakota-based trucking company Hall Trucking was declared an imminent hazard and was served a federal order forbidding the company from all interstate and intrastate operations. Additionally, company owner and truck driver Clayton Hall was immediately ordered out of service.

The out of service order was served following an FMCSA investigation that “found Hall Trucking to be egregiously noncompliant with multiple federal safety regulations.”

Investigators discovered violations of multiple federal safety regulations, including: Controlled Substances and Alcohol Use and Testing, Commercial Driver’s License Standards, Qualification of Drivers, and Driving of CMVs.

The investigation was launched after Hall tested positive for amphetamines in June 2020 and was notified that he was not permitted to operate a CMV until he successfully completed the statutorily required return-to-duty process overseen by a Substance Abuse Professional.

According to the FMCSA, “Hall continued to operate a CMV on at least 20 occasions, including at least three interstate trips in October 2021” despite the disqualification.

During the investigation, the FMCSA also determined that a Hall Trucking driver did not have a current medical examiner’s certificate. The same driver was determined to have taken at least three interstate CMV trips even though the driver had an “intrastate only” CDL.

FMCSA’s imminent hazard out of service order states that Hall Trucking’s “…..completedisregard for the [federal safety regulations] substantially increases the likelihood of serious injury or death for its drivers and the motoring public if its operations are not discontinued immediately.”