Regulators Shut Down Trucker After Fatal Crash

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration shut down an Alabama trucking company involved in an accident that killed 11 people in March.

Fayette, Ala.-based Hester was ordered off the road in June, after the company allegedly failed to correct safety violations discovered by an FMCSA investigation.

The shutdown was reported by the Louisville Courier-Journal Sept. 2 after the newspaper obtained the FMCSA order through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

FMCSA news from JOC:
FMCSA Drug, Alcohol Sweep Nabs 109 Drivers.

The Courier-Journal reported the FMCSA found Hester allowed drivers to exceed the 11-hour daily driving limit, used them before receiving results of their pre-employment drug tests and allowed on the road a driver who had been suspended.

The agency found 40 instances of falsified driver records at the $3.6 million company, which employed about 26 drivers, the Courier-Journal said.

The company was fined $13,950, but allegedly defaulted on the payments. Corrections made to its safety procedures were considered inadequate by the FMCSA, the newspaper reported.

Hester can't go back on the road until it gets a green light from the FMCSA.

The violations came to light after a Hester truck driven by Kenneth E. Laymon crossed the median of Interstate 65 in Kentucky March 26 and struck a van, killing Laymon and 10 passengers of the van. Two young children survived the crash.

A state police report released in March said Laymon was distracted and may have been speeding and talking on a cell phone at the time of the accident.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.

-- Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com.