A New Jersey trucking company was fined more than $9,500 on Wednesday morning for serious deficiencies found during recent safety inspections of its vehicles at BRADS Landfill in Blythe Township.
Uninsured and overweight vehicles, unlicensed drivers, bad brakes, bald tires … These cases highlighted an issue of the safety of trucks arriving to dump waste at the BRADS Landfill site.
Not all trucks arriving at that landfill are cited as these particular trucks were earlier this year. In fact, some have no violations.
But according to court records, between Jan. 1, 2019, and June 18, 2024, more than 1,160 citations were issued against trucks bringing waste to BRADS.
An overwhelming majority of those citations were for violations involving the operation of unsafe equipment, such as the cases heard on Wednesday.
IMD Carrier Corp., of Orange, New Jersey, was a no-show at a Summary Trial on Wednesday before District Magistrate David Plachko.
Back in May, during a public hearing hosted by Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection regarding a renewal application for BRADS Landfill, Plachko actually offered testimony regarding trucks heading to the facility based on his experience on the bench.
He said during his testimony that he wasn’t taking a stance on the issue due to his judicial status but was just there to “state facts” about the trucks going to BRADS. The fact he stated was that in 2023, alone, there were about 300 truck safety violations filed in his court.
Plachko suggested in his testimony that these numerous safety violations could one day lead to a serious accident in the communities surround the landfill.
“It’s not a matter of if it’s going to happen. It’s a matter of when it’s going to happen,” he said. “A rollover accident carrying who knows what will have great environmental impact.”
On Wednesday, Plachko found IMD Carrier guilty of numerous violations on its vehicles that were inspected at the landfill on Burma Rd. outside St. Clair on three separate dates recently.
Two officers from State Police Motor Carrier Enforcement testified on Wednesday about those violations. These violations were discovered during inspections conducted on IMD Carrier trucks on March 27, May 7, and May 14.
March 27 Inspection
On March 27, a tractor trailer was found to be 2,200 pounds overweight when it arrived at BRADS.
Its federal inspection had expired on July 2023.
Police also found that IMD Carrier had not paid its Unified Carrier Registration fee for the year. The company was also cited for a failure to correct that deficiency, which was also noted on a previous inspection.
May 7 Inspection
Then, on May 7, Officer Andrew Ebling testified Wednesday that he performed a walk-around inspection of an IMD Carrier truck at BRADS that was inbound from Mahanoy City, according to the inspection report filed with the court.
During that inspection, he found the following violations, all of which the company was found guilty of on Wednesday:
- Driver did not possess a CDL. Instead, he had a New York Class D license.
- Driver was operating a commercial motor vehicle while under a federal out-of-service order issued on April 29.
- Employer allowed driver to operate a CMV without a valid CDL.
- Employer allowed driver to operate a CMV while under a federal out-of-service order.
- Driver can not read or speak English enough to respond to official inquiries.
- Driver operated a property-carrying vehicle without having a valid medical medical certificate. This was a violation also noted during an April 29 inspection and not corrected.
- Passenger side low beam light was inoperable.
- Windshield washer was inoperable.
- Insufficient front tire tread depth.
- Improperly securing a fuel tank. The rear strap was broken.
- Reverse lamp was inoperable.
- Failed to correct violations for windshield washer from inspection on April 22.
- Vehicle was uninsured. The company also failed to correct that violation from an inspection on April 22.
- Failed to pay UCR fees for 2024
May 14 Inspection
On May 14, Officer Michael Pahira performed a full inspection on an IMD Carrier vehicle arriving at BRADS from Bronx, New York with demolition waste.
During that deeper inspection, numerous more safety violations were discovered.
Here’s a rundown of those violations:
- The vehicle was overweight by 360 pounds.
- Half of the 10 brakes on the vehicle were out-of-service. By law, only 20% of brakes can be out-of-service.
- A tire on the vehicle came into contact with an air dryer when it turned to the right.
- A splitter valve was leaking with and without brakes being applied.
- Vehicle was uninsured. The insurance policy was canceled on March 9. A citation was also filed for failing to correct this status since a previous inspection.
- Oil was leaking from the rear of the motor and from another area of the vehicle.
- The passenger-side low beam was not working. A citation for failing to fix this issue for failing to correct this violation from a previous inspection was also filed.
- The company hadn’t paid its UCR fees for 2024 and didn’t correct this issue from a previous inspection.
- The vehicle’s washer fluid wasn’t working.
- The front tread depth on the tires was 0/32″. The minimum is 4/32″. This was another violation filed in a previous inspection report and never corrected.
- A rear fuel tank strap was broken. Police issued a citation for failing to correct this problem from a previous inspection.
- There was no valid inspection on the trailer the truck was hauling that day.
- And the hood on the truck would not close.
- Brakes on the driver and passenger side of the vehicle were deemed out-of-service.
- The ABS light was lit on the dashboard.
- A tire on the passenger side was essentially flat. It should have measured a maximum of 110 pSi.
- The trailer the truck was hauling had no reflective material on its side.
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