Truck in Bay area collapse had record of safety violations

[RamboLiberal]

Source: CNN

The gasoline tanker that exploded Sunday, causing a San Francisco-area freeway ramp to collapse, was cited repeatedly for safety violations and was ordered off the road last year because of faulty brakes, according to federal records.

The tanker's owner or driver was cited 27 times since 2004 for violations ranging from its unsafe brakes and tires to carrying more gasoline than the truck was rated for, according to documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The six-year-old tanker was incinerated in an explosion that collapsed an interstate connector to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. It was owned by Sabek Transportation, a South San Francisco company that operates a fleet of eight trucks to ship gasoline between a refinery in Benicia and a string of gas stations in the Bay area.

The records obtained show Sabek's trucks have received at least 60 violations in the past three years during inspections by the California Highway Patrol. When the truck was found to have brakes that posed an imminent threat to public safety, it was held at the inspection site until they were repaired.

The truck involved in the highway collapse had not passed an inspection since summer 2004 without at least one violation, according to the federal records.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/03/highway.collapse.ap/index.html

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

1. If * has his way, there will be a lot more of this if he

opens the NAFTA superhighway, connecting Canada with Mexico.

[badgervan]

4. 27 Citations in 2 Years!

This is what happens when repubs do away with government enforcement of the rules in favor of the $. Anyone know if this truck came from our neighbors to the south? And this is just the beginning.

[Mendocino]

2. So because of deregulation and the company's greed,

millions of dollars will be spent to repair this road and millions more for lost time and fuel for vehicles sitting in jams, for the want of a safe truck with good brakes and a competent operator.. Sheesh! At least nobody plunged off the highway into this maelstrom. Maybe this driver can go party with the captain of the Exxon Valdez.

[lonestarnot]

3. Holy crap...

:eyes: