The U.S. Department of Transportation recently announced that in the last two years, the Obama Administration has issued as many imminent hazard orders placing unsafe bus and truck companies out of service as in the previous ten years combined.

 As part of the administration’s effort to step up motorcoach safety, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has cracked down on unsafe carriers through surprise inspections, full compliance reviews, and enforcement actions.

 Between 2000 and 2009, FMCSA issued a total of 14 imminent hazard orders placing unsafe carriers out of service. In the past two years, FMCSA has already issued another 14 imminent hazard orders to take carriers that pose an immediate risk to passengers off the road. This June, the Department of Transportation issued an imminent hazard order to a Michigan company found to be transporting passengers in luggage compartments, at great risk to passengers.

 

The DOT has also doubled the number of bus inspections and comprehensive safety reviews of the nation's estimated 4,000 passenger bus companies. Roadside inspections of motorcoaches have jumped nearly 100 percent, from 12,991 in 2005 to 25,703 in 2010, while compliance reviews are up 128 percent, from 457 in 2005 to 1,042 in 2010.

 

In May, FMCSA and its state and local law enforcement partners conducted more than 3,000 surprise passenger carrier safety inspections during a two-week period that resulted in 442 unsafe buses or drivers being removed from the nation's roadways. The strike force took 127 unsafe drivers and 315 unsafe vehicles off the road during these unannounced inspections.