- Trucking firms allegedly reset safety records by changing names and DOT numbers.
- Regulators say “chameleon carriers” are far more likely to pose safety risks.
- Investigators warn that the loophole is putting millions of everyday drivers at risk.
Safety records imply the idea that they remain with a driver or company. Those records provide regulators and hiring firms the chance to see how a person or company lives up to safety standards. Now, a trend of swapping DOT numbers and changing names is allegedly creating a massive threat on U.S. roads. At the center of the issue are what the Department of Transportation calls “Chameleon Carriers.”
According to trucking safety experts interviewed by 60 Minutes, these companies rack up safety violations, crashes, and failed inspections under one name. Then, before regulators can crack down, they dissolve that business, register a new one, apply for a fresh DOT number, and continue hauling freight with the same trucks, same drivers, and often the same owners.
Read: Thousands Of Truck Driving Schools Shut Down After Federal Crackdown
The DOT number is supposed to function like a permanent ID for a commercial trucking company. It allows regulators, freight brokers, and customers to see a carrier’s history of crashes, inspections, and violations. But once a company gets a new DOT number, that history can effectively disappear.
Investigators say some companies are exploiting that loophole with shocking ease. Setting up a new trucking company can reportedly take as little as three weeks and cost roughly $1,000. Once approved, the newly formed carrier appears clean on paper, even if the trucks and drivers behind it have already accumulated hundreds of violations under a previous identity.
One of the main companies under the microscope is a network tied to Super Ego Holding. Investigators and former drivers say trucks would sometimes receive new company names and DOT numbers by email. Drivers allegedly printed the new information, taped it over the old lettering on the side of the truck, and immediately continued operating. In other words, a truck with a long history of violations would suddenly appear to be brand new to freight brokers and customers.
Of course, they’re not any safer. Data cited by regulators suggests chameleon carriers are roughly four times more likely to be involved in crashes than conventional trucking companies. There are around 700,000 registered trucking companies in the U.S., but only a few hundred federal investigators oversee them.
Safety experts estimate that somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of carriers may operate somewhere on the chameleon spectrum. Chances are that you might see one, maybe with telltale duct tape surrounding a name and DOT number, on your next highway drive.
