A Florida commercial driver’s license crackdown has revealed huge safety issues within the industry.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement recently partnered with state and federal agencies to implement a four-day investigative task force called “Operation Highway Shield.”
‘We’ve got someone who is behind the wheel that is putting lives at risk, that has no regard for safety.’
FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass spoke to reporters on Thursday and revealed the staggering numbers of violations that were discovered when they inspected approximately 3,300 drivers.
From those drivers, authorities removed 176 from service, with 42 of them cited for federal immigration violations, while another 35 drivers were arrested for criminal charges.
“Some of the driver’s license that we would find wouldn’t even have a name on the CDL,” Glass told reporters. “Literally no name. … But you got a CDL, no first name, and it even says no name given; from other states, that is not from the state of Florida.”
At the same time, another 54 drivers were relieved of service over language deficiencies. According to Fox 35 Orlando, these deficiencies were tied to federal requirements outlined in President Trump’s executive order from April of last year, titled “Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers.” The order requires proficiency in English.
“So you’re having people with no names, operating commercial motor vehicles, but different types of endorsement running up and down your highways,” Glass explained.
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In one instance, officials said that in the Central Florida region of Sumter County, a truck driver was accused of swerving while on Interstate 4, which passes through Tampa and Orlando.
Authorities said the driver turned out to have limited English proficiency while also exceeding the legal blood alcohol level with a 0.27. In Florida, the legal blood alcohol level for typical drivers is 0.08%. For commercial drivers, however, it is 0.04%. This means the driver was nearly seven times over the legal limit.
“The larger picture of this is that we’ve got someone who is behind the wheel that is putting lives at risk, that has no regard for safety,” Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Derek Barrs said.
Employers can also face consequences in these instances, too, Barrs warned.
RELATED: ‘Wild, Wild West’: Trump DOT moves to shut down 550+ ‘sham’ truck driver training schools after axing 6,500
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images
More than 10 agencies participated in the operation, which is just a small part of the typical 100,000 inspections done in the state per year. Fox 51 Gainesville reported that about a quarter of those inspections typically result in vehicles being removed from the road due to mechanical issues and another 10% because of driver violations.
Florida currently has 23 vehicle inspection sites in the state and plans to add another near the Florida-Alabama border.
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