Chameleon Carriers Endangering Columbia Drivers?

Drivers in Columbia, as well as in nearby areas like Rock Hill and Anderson, are entitled to safe roads. Motorists, including professional truck drivers, have a duty to ensure that they operate their vehicles in a careful way to reduce the risk of a crash. Trucking companies and truck drivers also have additional obligations, including regular maintenance and other obligations set by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

A truck accident lawyer knows that while most trucking companies take safety rules seriously, there are some bad apples out there. There are trucking companies that don’t care about protecting the public and that try to skirt the law and avoid complying with FMCSA rules. When one of theses trucking companies is caught, it could be fined or shut down, among other consequences. However, these trucking companies work hard to make sure they aren’t caught. They have also become “chameleon companies,” which put the public in grave danger.

The Dangers of Chameleon Trucking Companies

According to the Ithaca Journal, the term Chameleon refers to the practice of a trucking company simply closing down its existing business and opening up under a new name.

Trucking companies become chameleons and close up shop to open a new one in situations where there is a big problem with their initial endeavor. Often, the “problem” is a safety issue or citation intended to force the company to clean up its act. What actually happens, though, is the trucking company just ignores the citation and starts anew with a different name and no negative safety record.

Companies that act as chameleons don’t usually clean up their act when they’ve started a new company either. The same management, same drivers and same trucks are used and only the name of the enterprise has changed. This means that they may have an unsafe fleet, untrained drivers and a host of other problems. However, sanctions or penalties may not work to ensure that they fix their issues because the company could just transform itself again.

Lawmakers are trying to change this pattern of behavior and bar chameleon trucking companies from skirting safety regulations via name change. Earlier this year, FMCSA created a new rule that deals with Patterns of Safety Violations. Technically, the rule mandates that a chameleon company that has started with a new name have its service orders and enforcement history follow it to the new business. However, this one simple new rule may not actually make that much difference.

Landline Magazine reports that the FMCSA’s algorithm to identify chameleon companies may not be working as well as it should. Senator Chuck Schumer has urged the agency to make changes and to add driver information to the identifying algorithm. Chameleon companies are a growing problem. In 2005, there were 759 companies with similar attributes who applied for a new license to operate a trucking company. By 2012, there were around 1,136 carriers who did the same. If these trucking companies are dangerous, it is essential to do everything possible to prevent them from getting tactic approval by the FMCSA.

Columbia South Carolina car accident victims should contact attorney S. Randall Hood of McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC at 803-327-7800 or visit https://www.mcgowanhood.com for a free case consultation. Also serving Anderson, SC, Rock Hill, SC, Sumter, SC, and Georgetown, SC, and surrounding areas.