Fleet record could hurt politician
According to The Huntsville Times, the Ashland-based trucking company co-owned by Republican candidate Bob Riley was given low ratings on driver safety and safety management practices by the federal government.
In the most recent review, Midway ranked among the worst 11% of all carriers surveyed nationally in two of the four categories, driver safety and safety management practices, according to the U.S. Dept. of Transportation.
According to The Huntsville Times, Midway's violations included falsified trucker logs and failure to perform required random drug tests on drivers.
Riley told the newspaper that the violations were clerical in nature. He said they arose between the time his business partner, Joe Mattox, died in summer 2001 and when Riley hired the firm's current manager about three months later.
Mattox managed the firm after Riley was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996.
