Truck Driver Reports Safety Violations

FOX 11 Investigates recently aired a TV segment about a whistleblower complaint filed by commercial truck driver Gary Bakley.

Bakley claimed that his employer had pressured him to falsify his driver logs, reporter Mark Leland noted in the broadcast.

The Department of Transportation requires commercial drivers to use these logs to verify the number of hours worked, Leland also said in the TV report, which featured an interview with the driver.

During the interview, Bakley claimed to have been pressured by other employers to drive longer than federally-allowed working hours and to alter the log books to disguise the safety violation.

[Property-carrying drivers] may drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) states in its regulations.

FMCSA, an agency of the Department of Transportation, investigated Gary Bakley’s complaint and found that the drivers employer wasn’t complying with federal regulations in several instances, according to reporter Mark Leland.

Leland also said that the FMCSA would soon implement a new rule requiring the use of electronic logging devices in commercial trucks.

The proposed rule will ultimately reduce hours-of-service violations by making it more difficult for drivers to misrepresent their time on logbooks and avoid detection by FMCSA and law enforcement personnel, FMCSA said in a written statement last year.

Other proposed federal rules for the trucking industry include the prohibition of driver coercion, a speed limiter mandate, and a safety fitness determination, according to Overdrive Magazine.

Drivers can report safety violations through the National Consumer Complaint Database, an FMCSA website.

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