Sen. Schumer Calls for Crackdown on 'Chameleon Carriers’
The trucking industry’s federal safety regulator must continue to improve its detection of carriers that operate under a new name to avoid safety violations, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Dec. 4.
The senior senator from New York said "chameleon carriers" — firms that dissolve and reform under a new name to avoid federal monitoring — are a safety risk to motorists.
In a recent letter to Scott Darling, acting administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Schumer asked the agency to include the names of individual drivers in a system that would determine which companies are potential chameleon carriers.
“The majority of truck companies and drivers understand the importance of safety. Very few companies will ever become ‘chameleon carriers,’ as most companies that receive violations quickly take steps to improve the safety of their operations,” Schumer wrote. He added, “The small number of ‘chameleon carriers,’ however, affect the reputation of the entire trucking industry and pose risks on our roadways.”
The senator also cited a Government Accountability Report published in 2012 that found that the number of carrier applicants to FMCSA with “chameleon” characteristics had increased from 759 in 2005 to 1,136 in 2010.
In response, FMCSA said it has shut down 14 New York operators in the past year for unsatisfactory safety ratings, according to the Ithaca (N.Y.) Journal.
"We appreciate Sen. Schumer's support of our aggressive efforts to combat chameleon carriers, and acting Administrator [T.F. Scott] Darling will respond to him directly on the new rules and policies we are taking to keep these unsafe companies off the road," the statement said.
Kendra Hems, president of the New York State Motor Truck Association, told the Albany (N.Y.) Times-Union that the association supports efforts to crack down on carriers who change identities. "It's certainly not indicative of the broader industry," Hems said. "It's just a small proportion of the folks out there. Certainly action needs to be taken, and we support trying to take those folks off the road."
