William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Jun 11, 2012 10:30AM EDT
Federal regulators shut down Wisconsin trucker WTSA US Express, the seventh motor carrier ordered off the road for safety violations in recent months.
The Racine-based carrier could be charged $16,000 a day if it ignores the out-of-service order the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued Friday.
“WTSA’s operations are reckless, with its management unable to demonstrate basic safety management controls,” the FMCSA said in its out-of-service order.
The agency recently shut down 26 motor coach companies in a sweeping crackdown on unsafe bus operations, and is taking aim at motor carriers as well.
FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro said the agency is stepping up efforts to pursue and shut down unsafe trucking companies as well as motor coach operators.
“We will use every little bit of our authority to get bad actors off the road,” she said.
WTSA, a produce and food hauler that operated one or two trucks, according to FMCSA data, failed to ensure its drivers comply with hours of service rules.
The company also violated alcohol and drug testing requirements and pre-employment testing requirements, according to the out-of-service order.
WTSA ignored two Wisconsin-issued out-of-service orders, the FMCSA charged, after one of its drivers was ordered off the road for alcohol-related violations.
The company allowed Tadeusz Wrzesniewski and Adam Wrzesniewski to operate trucks despite five state-issued out-of-service orders, the FMCSA said.
Neither of the drivers possessed valid commercial drivers licenses or medical certificates, the FMCSA discovered in an investigation launched in May.
WTSA’s “blatant disregard for the FMCSRs establishes an imminently hazardous and potentially deadly risk for its drivers and the motoring public,” the agency said.
Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter at @wbcassidy_joc
