Rogue Trucking Company in Georgia Ordered to Shut Down

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) has ordered a Georgia trucking company to cease all operations because the company poses an imminent hazard to public safety. The trucking company, Daya Trucking, LLC, USDOT No. 3020203, is based in Acworth, Georgia. Daya operates 39 trucks that haul freight.

Daya Trucking is the reincarnation of Ekam Truck Line, LLC. Ekam entered into a consent order with the FMCSA in 2017 because it was found to be in violation of numerous Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Ekam, however, failed to comply with the terms of the consent order. Instead, it opened a new trucking company under the name Daya Trucking and applied for DOT registration under this new name. This violated the terms of the 2017 consent order, which prohibited the owners of Ekam from applying for registration as a new motor carrier.

A FMCSA investigation into Daya’s operations found numerous serious safety violations. The violations included serious violations of the hours-of-service limitations. In one instance, a Daya Trucking driver was found to have disconnected his automatic on-board recording device before driving his truck from South Carolina through Georgia and Florida. The truck driver then reconnected it in Alabama. Later, the driver disconnected it again while driving through Lousiana and Texas. The reason why a truck driver would disconnect an on-board recording device is so that they can drive more hours than what the federal hours-of-service regulations allow without getting caught.

Other violations included failing to enforce pre-employment drug and alcohol test requirements, failing to follow driver qualifications requirements, and failing to inspect, maintain, repair its trucks in compliance with federal safety standards, which could potentially result in dangerous cargo accidents for other drivers.

The number of trucks that Daya had out-of-service in the past year was shocking. A truck is deemed out-of-service if it has one or more safety issues that make it an imminent danger to the public. Once a truck is declared out-of-service, it cannot be put back in service until the dangerous conditions are fixed. In the prior 12 months, 46 percent of Daya’s trucks were found to be out-of-service for a variety of safety issues that included inoperable lights, dangerous tires with exposed fabric, brakes that did not work properly, broken or missing parts, and leaking oil and increase from hubs.

Dangerous trucking companies are a public safety hazard. The FMCSA is responsible for making sure that companies such as Daya Trucking comply with federal safety regulations. Unfortunately, many truck drivers and irresponsible trucking companies exist, and their dangerous activities may go undetected until somebody is seriously injured or killed. Luckily, the FMCSA was able to catch this dangerous trucking company and order it to shut down. Hopefully the owners of Daya Trucking will get out of the trucking business and stop endangering the public on Georgia highways.