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August 5th, 2005

"Connecticut’s worst 25 trucking companies identified by safety records"

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell identified 25 tucking companies considered by a federal agency to have the worst safety records in the state. All 25 of the companies are now targeted for new state inspections.

Officials from several of the trucking companies said they do not understand why they are included on the list, insisting they have had few or no accidents and have been cited only for minor violations in recent year. The poor safety ratings list was released based on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s analysis of data from the past 30 months.

State Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman William K. Seymour said the rating was based on a federal government formula taking into account mechanical violations, accidents and driver violations. Rell said, “I want unsafe trucks and unsafe drivers off our roads, and I want trucking companies to know that we insist on their compliance with these laws.”

State officials plan on conducting special inspections of all trucking companies that appear to have serious records of safety violations, with intent to bring businesses compromising safety into compliance, not to close down the businesses. Still, some officials are shocked that they have been targeted for special inspections, claiming their safety records are clean.

The state crackdown comes in the wake of a deadly accident, which involved a company that was not included on the top 25 list. Seymour said he could not provide details of the companies’ alleged citations because it had not yet been provided to him, but he said the ranking has to do with the severity of the problems or the number of problems found.