Trucking company busted in MO for multiple safety violations

On behalf of Noland Law Firm, LLC posted in truck accidents on Friday, November 20, 2015.

An Ohio trucking company which was subjected to a surprise roadside inspection here in Missouri last month has now been ordered to immediately stop all its operations. The company, which operated three trucks and employed four drivers, had been in operation since 2009, but was shut down because of numerous violations.

In total, there were 43 safety violations cited by the investigator, including things like defective brake components, maladjusted or inoperable brakes, illegal load securement, and falsifications in logging hours-of-service compliance. Thirteen of the violations should have prevented the truck from operating at all, and the company was indeed operating in violation of two out-of-service orders. 

The sheer number of violations in this case is staggering, and is a reminder of the responsibilities truckers and their employers have when they take to the road. Those who have been paying attention to trucking regulation news know that the trucking industry has been attempting to increase weight and length minimum requirements, and has been successful in helping lobby for reexamination of hours-of-service rules it considers to be too restrictive. Failure to abide by safety rules and regulations puts all motorists at risk, and is something we should all be concerned about.

Those who have been impacted by a negligent trucker should always work with an experienced personal injury attorney to make sure they have their interests represented in seeking appropriate compensation, and to hold all negligent parties accountable. The ability to point to violations of safety regulations is an important means of establishing negligence, and can, in some cases, also help a plaintiff establish grounds for a punitive damages award. We’ll explore this issue a bit in a future post.