Trucking news and briefs for Friday, Dec. 6, 2024:
FMCSA denies fleet’s request to install pulsating brake light module
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced in a Federal Register notice that it has denied a waiver request from Polytech Plastic Molding Inc. to allow the company to install the Intellistop brake light module on its trucks.
FMCSA has previously granted similar exemptions to other carriers to use the brake light modules under certain provisions. The Intellistop module is designed to pulse the rear clearance, identification and brake lamps from a lower-level lighting intensity to a higher-level lighting intensity four times in two seconds, and then maintain the original equipment manufacturer’s level of illumination for those lamps until the brakes are released and reapplied.
In requesting the waiver, Polytech stated that previous research demonstrated that the use of pulsating brake-activated lamps increases the visibility of vehicles and should lead to a significant decrease in rear-end crashes.
[Related: FMCSA grants fleet's pulsating brake light exemption request]
FMCSA denied the request, however, “based on the unavailability of carrier and safety data.” The agency noted that Polytech was issued a notice for “Failure to complete biennial update” on April 8, 2015, which deactivated its USDOT number, adding that any subsequent operations in interstate commerce were illegal.
“FMCSA is unable to ascertain how many CMVs operated by Polytech would have an Intellistop module installed, nor does the Agency have any safety data to compare the performance of Polytech against industry averages,” FMCSA said.
FMCSA added that Polytech’s website says the fleet maintains a small fleet of delivery vehicles to service a delivery area within the U.S. and Canada. The agency said those “deliveries must be occurring with delivery vehicles owned by Polytech that are not registered under a USDOT carrier number. Thus, Polytech is either using delivery vehicles that are not subject to the FMCSRs because they do not meet the definition of a CMV or is operating in violation of the FMCSRs.”
If case of the former, FMCSA said it does not have jurisdiction to grant a waiver. If the latter is the case, “nine years of illegal operations strongly suggests that Polytech is unlikely to comply with the terms and conditions of an exemption.”
[Related: Six fleets seek waiver to allow Intellistop flashing brake lights]
Trucking, construction company owners, employee charged with COVID loan fraud
A federal grand jury returned a 13-count indictment charging three Illinois men for engaging in a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan fraud scheme in East St. Louis, Illinois.
Dana C. Howard of O’Fallon, Richard Scott Myers of Edwardsville, and Glenn Sunnquist of Swansea are each facing one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Howard is also facing charges for making a false statement, two counts of bankruptcy fraud and three counts of willful failure to pay taxes. The grand jury also charged Myers with one count of monetary transaction in funds derived from a specified unlawful activity and three counts of bankruptcy fraud.
In response to financial hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Small Business Administration utilized the PPP to offer relief and forgivable loans to struggling businesses. Under PPP, business owners could apply for loans to offset operational costs for payroll, employee benefits, facility expenses and other bills.
According to an Internal Revenue Service press release, Howard and Myers were co-owners of construction company Zoie, LLC, and freight company Zade Trucking, both in East St. Louis. Sunnquist was employed as a bookkeeper for both businesses.
In April 2020, Howard and Myers applied for and received a PPP loan for $1,426,500 and asserted more than $1.3 million of the funds would be used to keep Zoie operational and employees paid during the pandemic. Howard and Myers are accused of using the large loan for their personal use and to the benefit of another business they owned and not the intended use of the funds.
The indictment alleges that in 2020, both Meyers and Howard filed for bankruptcy indicating they had little to no PPP loan funds left when in fact combined they had $450,000 available to them through cashier’s checks. Howard and Myers are also alleged to have applied for a second PPP loan for more than $1.4 million in January 2021, falsely indicating they were not involved in any bankruptcy proceedings and thereafter also sought forgiveness of the first loan.
Sunnquist is accused of falsifying Zoie’s expense records and manipulating old invoices to support the loan’s forgiveness application. In September 2022, SBA denied forgiveness of the loan.
[Related: Memphis fleet owner sentenced for COVID loan fraud]
False logs result in jail time for trucking company co-owner
The co-owner of a now-defunct Massachusetts-based trucking company was sentenced Nov. 21 for charges related to a fatal crash that killed seven motorcyclists.
Dunyadar Gasanov -- who owned Westfield Transport, Inc., a for-hire interstate motor carrier that transported vehicles -- was sentenced to two months in prison, a year of supervised release, and a $300 special assessment.
According to the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, from May 3, 2019, to June 23, 2019, Gasanov falsified driving logs to evade federal regulations designed to ensure the safety of roadways and drivers.
Gasanov instructed at least one Westfield Transport employee to falsify records to hide the fact the driver had exceeded the number of permissible driving hours.
Gasanov then made false statements to federal safety inspectors regarding the manipulation of recording devices that track drivers' on and off duty hours in order to evade regulations.
Gasanov also falsely stated to safety inspectors that he met the driver involved in a fatal crash that killed seven motorcyclists on the day he hired the driver. Gasanov had in fact known the driver for years prior and was aware that the driver had been previously charged with operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.
In the crash in question, the driver of a 2016 Dodge 2500 with a car-haul trailer used in hotshot operations collided with a group of motorcyclists after crossing a double yellow line into their lane. A report issued in December 2020 by the National Transportation Safety Board said the driver, 23-year-old Volodymyr Zhukovzkyy, was operating the pickup towing a car-hauling trailer. The NTSB report indicated he was under the influence of “multiple drugs” and alcohol at the time and had a history of impaired driving. NTSB concluded Zhukovzkyy should have had his CDL revoked by the state of Massachusetts before the crash occurred.
Zhukovzkyy was running a paper log at the time of the crash, but the company broadly employed KeepTruckin’s e-log app at the time in AOBRD form. The crash occurred prior to the December 2019 date by which all drivers were required to transition from AOBRD- to ELD-spec devices. NTSB said the company manipulated KeepTruckin’s hardware and software so as to falsify their logs.
[Related: Small-fleet owners charged for log app tampering, lying to investigators after fatal crash]