On April 25, 2019, on I-70 near Denver, Colorado, a truck crash left four people dead and several more wounded. The young driver, 23-year-old Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos, lost control and collided into several passenger cars. Twenty-eight vehicles were involved, closing the interstate highway for several hours and snarling traffic across the city. Four people died and several more were injured.
In the hours, days and weeks that followed, investigators gathered evidence, collected witnesses and conducted crash analysis to determine how such a devastating accident could happen on such a well-traveled highway. The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) offers some insight, as the agency maintains a crash database (auto, motorcycle and truck crash) for the purpose of improving traffic and highway safety in the state. They rank several crash types on their website, including crashes by human contributing factors, lighting conditions, weather conditions, at-fault distracted drivers, all distracted drivers and DUIs.
But what the CDOT doesn’t specifically address is crash type by truck carrier, which should be held as the responsible party. Why? Truck carriers have a duty to properly maintain their fleet, vet potential employees and train drivers before hitting the road. Otherwise, truck crashes like the I-70 may become more commonplace.
Aguilera-Mederos drove for Castellano 03 Trucking out of Houston, Texas. Online inspection reports from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) reveal 30 violations connected to Castellano 03 Trucking since late 2017. At least 10 violations include issues like “brake tubing and hose adequacy” and “clamp or Roto type brake out-of-adjustment,” the reports say.
Castellano 03 dissolved a few months after the crash, but not before the same owners registered a newer company, Volt Trucking, in Texas. Volt has since had violations involving brakes and brake connections, according to federal transportation records. Volt and Castellano 03 aren’t alone in their violations; a quick scan of the FMCSA’s Safety and Fitness Electronic Records System shows just how many carriers have been fined.
Truck fleet maintenance is but one component of safer driving; carriers must also take the lead on truck driver training, preparing their employees for everything from inclement conditions to truck parking. Yet failures persist industry-wide, exacerbated by truck driver shortage that has carriers considering shortcuts.
TRUCK DRIVER TRAINING ISSUES
No minimum hours of behind-the-wheel training
Aspiring barbers have to complete a training program of at least 1,500 hours; a massage therapist must work 500 hours over the course of a year to get certified. But truck drivers have no mandated practice hours to get behind the wheel of a 40,000-pound truck. There’s just a medical exam, a multiple-choice written exam, and a brief driving test—which in some states can be administered by the school that drivers paid to train them.
To reiterate: Driving a semi truck required no minimum hours of behind-the-wheel truck driver training up until February 2022, when the industry applied a band-aid to a dangerous situation like that of Aguilera-Mederos. Just a month ago, a trainer provider registry was enacted, requiring a Class A CDL to have 190 hours and a Class B CDL to have 90 hours of training, yet practice hours are still not monitored. Basically, commercial truck drivers can get their Class A endorsement within weeks, and often with minimal supervised instruction.
No practice in inclement/dangerous conditions
Nearly 38% of commercial motor vehicle drivers said they did not receive adequate entry-level training to safely drive a truck under all road and weather conditions, according to a 2015 survey from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The same held true for Aguilera-Mederos. Having been trained in Texas, he had limited experience navigating mountainous terrain or handling snowy/icy conditions. According to trial testimony, Aguilera-Mederos said he had driven through the Colorado mountains about three times before the crash: a very short training period given the dangers of the mountain passes.
Why don’t trucking companies want better training for their employees? More stringent training in various weather conditions and terrains would slow the hiring process, put employees on the payroll longer, and take a bite out of trucking carriers’ multi-million dollar profits. Many truck carriers have already pushed back on any such mandate.
Apply now: No experience needed
At the time of the crash, 23-year-old Aguilera-Mederos had less than a year of driving experience. While he was legally able to operate an 18-wheeler, he was relatively new to the industry — and studies show that years of experience have a large effect on truck driver skill and safety. According to an analysis based on the the 2005 Large Truck Crash Causation Study:
For drivers with less than 5 years of experience driving a truck, the estimated odds of being assigned the critical reason for the crash is 1.41 times (or 41 percent higher than) the estimated odds for drivers with 5 or more years of experience. Compared to experienced drivers, the risk of being assigned the critical reason for the crash is 17% higher for drivers with less than 5 years of experience driving a truck.
Yet the situation isn’t likely to improve as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recently announced a pilot program to ease the age restrictions on interstate trucking, allowing drivers as young as 18 years old to cross state lines. We are strongly opposed to these pilot programs, due to the well-documented risk that inexperienced drivers present, coupled with the increased liability involved in large commercial vehicles. Experience matters — and trucking age restrictions are in place for a reason.
A broken system: Trucking industry problems
It is easy to see the ways in which Aguilera-Mederos’ case was only made possible through unchecked inexperience and insufficient training. Lewie Pugh, a commercial truck driver for 22 years and current executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assn, summed it up best in a Land Line article in December 2021.
“On my 21st birthday, I started driving for a large carrier and attended their training, which was two weeks long, and was then turned loose… I am not too proud to say I ended up in some tense situations a few times. Not because I was negligent or reckless. I just didn’t know what I didn’t know. To me, this was a huge part of what happened that dreadful day in 2019….We need real investment in training… The training must be done by experienced veterans of the road, awake and alert, sitting beside the trainee…. [Trucking] safety starts with a well-trained, well-rested, well-compensated driver behind the wheel that is treated like a professional – instead of just a replaceable commodity.”
Taking a cue from Pugh, we implore trucking companies and industry stakeholders to consider updated measures to ensure their drivers’ safety habits on local highways and byways:
- Implement stricter truck driving school rules that include hours-of-service requirements.
- Add realistic truck driver training hours in all types of weather conditions and driving terrain.
- Launch apprenticeship programs. With a registered apprenticeship, would-be commercial drivers get a guarantee that a trucking company will pay for their CDL and for on-the-road training, and that they will commit to certain wage increases over time. These type programs do exist in trucking, mostly set up by unions.
- Offer better driver compensation.
- Provide ongoing incentives for safe driving.
- Retain drivers through tenure initiatives (e.g., wage increases based on the number of consecutive years in the industry). Driver retention is a big industry issue, with turnover nearing 90% yearly.
Instead of spending money on government lobbyists to push through 18-year old drivers, extend drive hours or loosen CDL testing measures, truck carriers should consider reallocating their capital to training and paying their drivers, equipping them for a safe life on the road. The training measures listed above would be a good start.
At the Law Offices of Peter M. Anderson and Colorado Truck Accidents, we advocate for a safer trucking industry. If you have questions about a case or want to speak with an experienced legal team, please don’t hesitate to reach out. 303-444-1505.