FMSCA shuts down Maryland trucker

   The U.S. Transportation Department’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has declared Hanover, Md.-based Gunthers Transport an imminent hazard to public safety and ordered the trucking company to immediately cease all transportation services.
    FMCSA issued an imminent hazard out-of-service order against Gunthers following an in-depth review of the company’s operations, which found multiple hours-of-service and vehicle maintenance violations.
    In its order, FMCSA called the trucker’s safety oversight “deficient.” “Individually and cumulatively, these violations and conditions of operations substantially increase the likelihood of serious injury or death to Gunther Transport, LLC’s drivers and to the motoring public,” the agency said.
    FMCSA discovered the company allowed its drivers to falsify their hours-of-service records and exceed the 11-hour limit for daily driving. In addition, Gunthers did not require its drivers to perform pre-trip vehicle safety inspections, operated trucks that were in such poor condition they were likely to break down and posed a high crash risk based on its on-road performance record.
    FMCSA uses its Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) method to provide details on a carrier’s safety performance and reach a percentage score in each of the categories. The Maryland trucker was found to be “seriously” deficient in four of the seven BASICs: unsafe driving (66.9 percent), fatigued driving (99.3 percent), driver fitness (77.3 percent), and vehicle maintenance (100 percent).
    “Commercial truck companies that recklessly disregard federal safety regulations will be shut down and removed from our roadways,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, in a statement on Wednesday.