FMCSA and their multi-million dollar trucking company fines

Posted on Oct 31, 2009

Ensuring compliance with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR) is the responsibility of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). This gives the FMCSA oversight of all the truck, bus and motorcoach companies that are regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

The FMCSA collects tens of millions in fines every year from motor carriers that fail to follow applicable regulations. Here are the totals collected from closed cases for the last five years, including what has been collected so far this year:

2009 – 5214 total cases resulting in $25,244,699.00 collected by FMCSA
2008 – 5138 total cases resulting in $27,019,030.00 collected by FMCSA
2007 – 5281 total cases resulting in $26,381,389.00 collected by FMCSA
2006 – 4403 total cases resulting in $18,873,088.00 collected by FMCSA
2005 – 4102 total cases resulting in $20,170,452.00 collected by FMCSA

In Virginia so far this year there have been 184 motor carrier violation cases closed. So far the most expensive case has been against a truck company in Woodbridge, Virginia that violated six different regulations and had to pay $ 54,960.00 to settle their case.

This is the kind of information that can be very helpful when researching a tractor trailer accident case. As you can imagine, any company with tens of thousands dollars worth of fines for violating the law will have some problems convincing a judge or jury that they care about the safety of their drivers and other road users.