The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has ordered Aurora, CO-based trucking company GD Cars, Inc., a used car and truck transportation company, to immediately cease all operations, declaring that its vehicles and drivers pose an imminent hazard to public safety.
FMCSA investigators found serious vehicle safety deficiencies during the course of their investigation, according to a FMCSA press release. In the midst of the investigation, GD Cars dispatched a truck with a trailer to Kansas to retrieve another GD Cars-owned truck and trailer that had been impounded by the Kansas Highway Patrol for serious safety deficiencies.
After loading the impounded truck and starting the return trip to Colorado, the second GD Cars truck and trailer was stopped and inspected by the Kansas Highway Patrol. Serious safety deficiencies were again discovered in the second GD Cars vehicle and it too was immediately ordered out of service and impounded as an imminent hazard to public safety.
In addition to failing to ensure that its vehicles were properly and regularly inspected, repaired and maintained, FMCSA investigators found GD Cars to be in violation of federal regulations requiring random drug and alcohol testing of its drivers. The company also failed to monitor and ensure that its drivers complied with federal hours-of-service regulations. On occasion, FMCSA said, the company dispatched a driver who did not possess a commercial driver’s license.
“Any vehicle, but especially a large commercial combination vehicle such as a truck and trailer, that is not maintained or repaired and allowed to become a serious public hazard, is unacceptable,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. “The regulations exist to protect everyone. Compliance is not optional. If a motor carrier does not adhere to the safety regulations, we will see that it does not operate.”
A copy of the imminent hazard out-of-service order can be viewed at www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/about/news/2013/GDCarsInc.pdf.