U.S. Department of Transportation Shuts Down Illinois Trucking Firm |
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Topics: Lindell D. Lingle Trucking
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Office of Motor Carrier Safety
December 10, 1999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, December 10, 1999
Contact: David Longo
Tel: (202) 366-0456
OMCS 2-99
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Motor Carrier Safety (OMCS) today ordered an Illinois trucking firm to cease operations for failing to comply with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR).
"Safety is President Clinton’s and Vice President Gore’s highest transportation priority, and this safety enforcement action underscores our commitment to reducing truck-related fatalities by 50 percent in 10 years," said Secretary Rodney E. Slater. "We will not tolerate actions that demonstrate disregard for safety and the regulations established to save lives on our nation’s highways."
President Clinton yesterday signed the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999, which will provide new enforcement tools to improve highway safety, help get dangerous vehicles off the road, save lives and help reach a national goal of reducing truck-related fatalities by 50 percent in the next 10 years.
The order was issued to Lindell D. Lingle Jr. and Lindell D. Lingle Trucking, a motor carrier located in Dongola, Ill., for supplying illegal substances to drivers and using drivers who had tested positive for controlled substances; for putting drivers on the road who did not have valid commercial driver licences (CDL), had more than one license, or who had been disqualified from driving a commercial motor vehicle; and requiring drivers to violate federal hours-of-service regulations.
"Our job is to save lives by preventing truck and bus crashes," said Doug Sawin, chief enforcement officer for the OMCS Midwest Region. "We will continue to identify and remove those unsafe motor carriers and commercial drivers who refuse to assume personal responsibility for their role in highway safety."
Lingle Trucking was ordered to cease all interstate commercial vehicle operations. The OMCS Illinois Division discovered the safety violations in the course of its investigation, and based on these findings, Lingle Trucking was determined to pose an imminent hazard to public safety. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s OMCS is the federal transportation agency directly responsible for truck and bus safety.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General and the Illinois State Police participated in this investigation. In addition, the matter has been turned over to the U.S. Attorney’s office for further investigation.