Unqualified Drivers

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am Sandy shack In for Jack, and we're asking
who is responsible for the three people who died in
Florida on the Florida Turnpike when the driver, mister Singh
pulled a U turn. He was not qualified to be
behind the wheel, but he had been licensed by California,
who didn't care if he was qualified. They let him
fail the exams and gave him the license anyway, And
that's okay if they want to let him loose on

(00:21):
the roads in California. But that license enabled him to
drive across the country into Florida and go through New Mexico,
which you know, they knew he didn't speak English and
didn't know what he was doing, but they didn't stop him.
They just gave him a ticket and Betty ended up
in Florida where he killed three people. Who's responsible for this?
Is it the driver mister Singh, he knew what he
was doing. Was it the governor California who allowed his

(00:46):
uh this Department of Transportation to issue license to unqualified
people who then killed three people? Is it the company
that hired him and put him behind the wheel and
they had to know what his lack of qualifications were.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Is it all of the above.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Who do you think is responsible? Susan on cape Cod,
Welcome to WRKO.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
How are you, Susan, I'm great, Sandy, how are you?
I'm fine? Thank you? Who do you hold responsible here?

Speaker 3 (01:13):
It's like the previous caller, the instructor, it's a little
bit of everybody. And I am a newly licensed CDL driver.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
I drive a school bus.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
And what the other trainer didn't say is we get
six chances to pass the past, which is it's pretty tough.
And I remember, I remember towards the end of last
year there was a young child who was hit by
a school bus driver and he died. The city at
Boston was down like fifty drivers at the beginning of

(01:44):
the school year, and by the time the school year started,
they were full of how did they get fifty drivers?

Speaker 5 (01:51):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (01:51):
And what we found amazing at school bus drivers is
there are mirrors in the front of the bus called
crossover mirrors, and you can see down to the ground
the whole front.

Speaker 4 (02:00):
Of your us.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
Why didn't this person see this child crossing the street?
What kind of training did they get? You know, it's great,
there's all kinds of tests, but you know, I think
when push comes to shops sometimes they push people through
to fill their quotas.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, yeah, no, I think I think that's right.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
I think that's a really scary example of exactly that
what you're talking about.

Speaker 4 (02:24):
Now.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
I did not follow through with that story, so I
don't know what kind of training that that driver had,
or whether they were experienced or inexperienced, But from what.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
You say, the odds are that they.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Were not on the more experienced end of the spectrum,
wouldn't you say?

Speaker 4 (02:42):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (02:43):
But I'm not that experience either. I'm only into this
three years, but I had a fantastic trainer, and I
take my job seriously because bubas drivers are highly regulated
because you're you're you have lives in your in your care.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Well, I would argue, Susan that all truck drivers have
lives in their care to a certain extent, because you know,
they have these huge, these huge behemoth vehicles that are
moving at very high rates of speed in close proximity
with passenger cars. Never mind, you know other trucks, and

(03:21):
you know when a when a truck goes down, it
usually takes others with it. It doesn't go by itself.
With rare example, with rare you know, exceptions to that.
So I think being a truck driver is probably one
of the more stressful jobs that you can possibly pick
and also one of the ones that needs extreme training, vigilance,

(03:43):
and really strict adherence to qualifications.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
So the fact that this what.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Happened in Florida has opened up and I'm sure as
a truck driver many people, the ones who called in
already know is a CDL driver yourself.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
You are more aware.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Of what goes on the industry than those of us
who are not licensed in the industry. This was an
eye opener for me seeing knowing I knew that there
were qualifications, and there were strict qualifications. I had assumed
that everybody abided by that. I did not know that

(04:22):
you had. You have entire states that could give a bleep,
you know that just issue them anyway. Did you have
an idea I mean, obviously you did about the school
drive the school bus driver from that accident, but did
you have an idea of how bad it had gotten?

Speaker 3 (04:38):
Susan, I think that's like a two sided coin because
they're struggling to get CDL drivers because it's such a
hard thing to pass.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
It's apparently not in California.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
If you're in California, it's not hard to pass pass
at all, not even at all.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
And at the same time, the regular everyday people who
have their class ds, they drive like idiot. They don't
pay attention. I see it every day where I you know, oh,
this guy Rana Ridge. It's a constant daily thing. People
just don't pay attention anymore. They don't understand the responsibility

(05:14):
of driving a vehicle, any vehicle, whether it's a you know,
your everyday passenger car or our semi. You're driving a
moving thing that can knock you down and kill you
in a matter of seconds.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, and then take but take that level of responsibility
even further with the truck driver because it's even bigger.
You know, it's the Queen Mary as opposed to you know,
a little outwards gift basically is what you're talking about.
So I completely get your point. Thank you so much
for the call, Susan. I appreciate it, And thank you
for the work you do with the kids, because I
know that that's not an easy job either. That's got

(05:51):
to be extremely stressful. Let's go to Mark and Salem. Mark,
Welcome to w RKO. How are you, sir?

Speaker 4 (06:00):
Fine?

Speaker 5 (06:01):
Listen, you know outside of a highways one, I've been
two different jobs. Okay, my full time jobs I want
with me. I said a lot of money for my license.
To keep it maintained, I have to continual education program.
I work for a company where we help people who
want have machines that don't have license. Last night I
had to work an overnight shift. I drove a dump

(06:23):
truck on my way out to Western.

Speaker 4 (06:26):
Mass I was passed.

Speaker 5 (06:28):
Now, there's four lanes on the highway. Each lane has
a designation the white Man lanning line. That's the lane
for the people going slower who are getting on and
getting off the highway. The two middle lanes are traveling,
and that fow up lane we call it the handle ling.
It is designated as they passing lane old.

Speaker 4 (06:47):
It is not for traveling.

Speaker 5 (06:50):
Last night, on my way out to Whalen is you know,
it's six o'clock in the evening, about my way up
to do a night job, I'm passed in the third
lane by a classic trailer of a gentleman with doctor
stim Colla and he was cooking. He didn't want to
sit in Malia. The traffic because Willis took it those
right hand lanes. He didn't want to fit in that traffic, so.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
To him, so he was being a scoff law.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Who is responsible for the illegal alien truck driver who
killed three people in Florida?

Speaker 2 (07:20):
Just him?

Speaker 1 (07:21):
Or is it the people who gave him his license
without him passing the requisite tests or is it all
of the above?

Speaker 2 (07:29):
We were talking.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
I'm sorry, this is Sandy Shack sitting in for Jeff Cooner.
We were talking with Mark from saund before the break
and you got rudely cut off.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Mark, welcome back, Thank you.

Speaker 4 (07:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (07:41):
So I'll say, so this draver didn't want to and
I see this regually. I travel a lot on the highways.
They don't know what Wayne was supposed to be and
they think that the entire highway is accessible to them,
and it's not. Now I'm gonna give you an example.
This is how often it happens. I want two night.
I was coming back down ninety five, now ninety five

(08:04):
at two in the morning. There's a Philly Quiet vote,
there's a Bible.

Speaker 4 (08:08):
I live in my mirrors.

Speaker 5 (08:09):
I want to know what's coming up behind me. I
want to know if there's an emergency where I can
put my truck. I see it struck coming at me
in that third lane, and he was moving. He never
got out of the lane, didn't know me for it.
There was nobody on the highway except with me. But
they don't know where to go. Now, every couple of years,
we have to do what's called self certification in Massachusetts.

(08:30):
I don't know if other states have to do it,
but every couple of years, I have to do a
self certification. Don't know what they're doing it because we
don't know how they're getting the licenses. I can't say this.
I go buy a weight station by ninety five every day,
and every day I see a state trooper nowming a
truck pulled over and it flew the weight station. They

(08:51):
just smoke right by it because they don't know that
when that sign says open, but they're required to pull it.
And every time you go buy it is it's not
that it's not a you're typical white American. I don't
want to you know, I mean about it, but expense
always seems to be the usual suspect that you know,

(09:13):
won't stop at the weight stations. Both full web life
use every lane.

Speaker 4 (09:18):
In the Highway.

Speaker 5 (09:19):
I got past black Fight, I was doing sixty five.
This guy must have been doing eighty five if he
went by me like I was fucked and he never
got out of those left weights. If you want, I mean,
if you can say, oh, we gotta set them at
the weight station. The state troopers can't stop every truck
that blows the weight stations.

Speaker 4 (09:37):
They just can't.

Speaker 5 (09:38):
There's there's too many trucks that not enough personnel. You know,
if you're if if something gets done that has to
be done from the signatures that are being given to
these the drivings, whoever's signing off on them, and if
something happened, that person has to repossible. Unfortunately in today's society,

(09:59):
with politics the way it is, and it's the sad
part the people who are going to sop up those
three people that find that many dams and that truck drive. No,
you know, did he set out that morning and you
don't what Today's the day I'm going to kill people? Know?
Nobody ever done that?

Speaker 2 (10:15):
Well, you know, I think you're right, Yeah, I believe that.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
I don't think he set out to kill somebody, but
he set out to drive, and he knew he shouldn't
be driving, and he still did it anyway, And that's deliberate.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
That's a deliberate act.

Speaker 5 (10:30):
I think nobody's trying to be held responsible except for
him and the people that walk stay alive.

Speaker 4 (10:35):
And that's what you know.

Speaker 5 (10:37):
And I'm not saying it this way because this is
how I feel, and that's what we Americans are dealing
with every day. The look on his face, he saw
the truck at him, he looked out his window. I
saw the video, he looked out his window and no expression. Yeah,
if they showed him, stand him on the side eye way,
he hands in his pockets, no expression like it didn't
need anything.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (10:59):
And we are Medicans, you know, whether we are legal citizens,
whether we are born and raised here, we are the
ones who are bearing the brunt of this. And nobody,
not not any governor, no mayres, none of them will
ever be hell of accountable. The only ones who'll get
hell of accountable up. We're the ones who have to

(11:21):
be held accountable for what takes place on the roads
because nobody else really cares about our lives. They do
not care. This is while ideal. I see it all
the time. Government does not care what happens for one
way another. As long as they get their money and
they get their votes, that's it. And these drivers got
to continue to come in or they're going to continue

(11:43):
to west. They're going to continue to wet lives, and
nobody at the higher table is going to pay part.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
I think that that has been true, Mark, I don't
think it necessarily will continue to be true. I think
that it's up to us if we're going to hold
these people accountable. In this case, I think it's the
people of California. You have to hold Governor Newsom accountable
and his Secretary of Transportation accountable, and just lower level firings,

(12:13):
you know, won't do it, because, let's face it, whatever
is going on at the licensing board in California is
smiled upon or looked away from by the people above,
and that's who you have to change. And it's a
people of California. You have to do something about it.
And that is not re elect him or on a
more national level, if he's running for president, Newsom running

(12:35):
for president, which I believe he is, I think he's
you're seeing a soft launch of a campaign with this
podcast that he's been doing.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
You know, give him a drubbing.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
You make sure that he doesn't he doesn't win, that
he's held accountable on that level. He's not going to
go to jail the same way mister Single will go
to jail. But I think he does need to face
some consequences. They're not harsh enough in my opinion, but
at least it's something, because I understand your frustration that
mister Singh is the one who will be held responsible,

(13:06):
and mister Singh should be held responsible for what he did.
I saw the same thing you did in the video.
I saw him expressionless standing by the side of the road.
I don't know whether he was in shock and that
is why he is expressionless, or whether he.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Just doesn't value human life. I don't know why.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
He was just standing there hanging out like he was
waiting in line for a soda. I don't know why.
But I did see the same thing.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
That you saw. And maybe if he.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
Is held accountable and does serious time in prison as
opposed to you know, eighteen months nuisance sentence.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Then maybe other people who should.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
Not be licensed to drive, not have a CDL, and
be driving big rigs or large trucks, maybe they will
think twice about out picking that as a way to
make money. Maybe they'll see it's not worth it in
the end that they could because they're putting other people
at risk. Maybe they too, you know, should think of

(14:13):
another way to go. I'm hoping that that's what happens.
Thank you so much for the call, Mark, I appreciate it.
Gino from Buffalo, Welcome to WRKO. How are you, Gino?

Speaker 6 (14:23):
Good morning, saying my faisan, how are you?

Speaker 2 (14:26):
I'm fine? How are you doing today?

Speaker 6 (14:29):
Very good? I just like to say it seems like
we've fallen into the maybe the liberal trap in the
last thirty to forty years of before a crime has
even brought the court, we parson apart and by the
time it gets the court, the person who's held responsible
is already broken down, so their responsibility is very minimal.
I think we should take this it's illegal immigrants to court,

(14:52):
find them guilty, put them in jail, and nothing after
the various aspects of what always leads us to this
is corruption and management by horrible politicians.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, I think that's true.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
The problem that we have and you need to turn
your radio off, you know the problem that we have
is that you know, this is California in fact impacting
people in Florida. So the federal government is going to
have to be do if we're going to ever hold
the people of California or the governor of California responsible

(15:26):
for what's happened here, then there's probably going to have
to be some kind of federal reckoning. And other than
what Sean Duffy, our Secretary of Transportation, is doing, which
is withholding federal funds from states until they clean up
their act in regard to CDL licenses, I don't know
what else.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
They can do.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
I mean, they could launch a criminal probe, and I
guess the way to attach to go after that is
the fact that something that they did in California affected
people in Florida, and so that would bring it into
the federal national level. I'm not sure what the what
exactly the mechanism would be for that, and what the
best way to go about doing that is, but I

(16:04):
think you're right. I think we have to do that,
and I don't know how. I'd have to look into it,
but I'm pretty sure the Department of Justice could probably
figure out a way.

Speaker 4 (16:12):
How.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Thank you for the call. I really appreciate it. Let's
go to Sergey in. Is it Sergey in Newton?

Speaker 4 (16:24):
I'm so pleased to talk to you.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Yes, go ahead, Yes.

Speaker 4 (16:33):
To hell. A CDEO commercial driving license is very complex.
It's the schools. Certain schools they give education and stand
behind these students.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
I got to hold you there for a second, Surgay,
please hold on and we'll come to you on the
other side of the break.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
Our text number is seven zero four seven zero six
one seven, says Sandy.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
If the highway was built with federal funds, and I
think this accident could be a federal crime.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
It's a stretch, but I don't know.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
That might be the might be the ticket in on
how to hold California responsible for an accident that happened
in Florida because they did not adequately, uh follow their
own rules in regard to giving a CDL to a
non English speaking illegal alien. But we were talking with
SERGEI from Newton before the break, Sirga, I'm sorry we

(17:21):
were interrupted.

Speaker 4 (17:24):
Hello, yes, Hi, Yes, okay. The bottom line is I
figure that the company that hired this person is very
responsible for what happened because because there's certain restrictions on

(17:47):
cl drivers and not every driver can cross the state
line is the interstate. They can't do that an interrat state.
If state would like to hire CDO drivers without experience
or for some other reasons like medical reasons, they can't

(18:10):
do it. But these drivers they cannot cross the state line.
And because our system now upgraded, we have one system,
federal system for CDO drivers all days. Drivers could have
several driving licenses like from different states. Now must be

(18:31):
one license interstate. So easy to control now regarding because
like I said, restrictions, so all days all days was
a federal requirement. In eighties and eighties, the old CDEO

(18:51):
drivers supposed to go through retraining and this is how happened.
The old drivers used to go to the school and
have studied manuals and different type of cars and trucks
requirements air brakes, dry tankers, buses and they have to

(19:16):
be certified in every single issue and bring this certificates
from examine re examination to this to get a license.
Because the licenses were one, two in three. Now we
have a B and C. So many companies offer drivers

(19:39):
with a B come over and they send them for
retraining to drive UH semi trailers eighteen wheelers. Because shortage Now,
of course, many things when our control UH licensees have
been purchased. But I figured the companies who hired these

(20:04):
people to drive semeterials, they are responsible for this. They
have interview with the drivers, they check everything, criminal records,
medical records. This has to be on the shoulders of
the companies who send this driver out of state of California.
Interstate you understand what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
I do understand. I completely understand what you're saying. And
in this particular case, the company that did put him
on the road license you know, hired him, has been
have had their license revoked, so that has that has happened.
So they are being held responsible to a certain level.
But I also think beyond the company and beyond the.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
Driver, the state that allows.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
The company to operate in this manner to put people
who are unqualified behind the wheel, and who encourage people
to take advantage of a broken CDL system or a
system that is either for purchase or for just not
following their own rules and regulations. I think that they

(21:13):
should also be held accountable because they created the business
atmosphere that this company could do business in if California
held strict adherence to its own rules and to the
federal rules regarding CDL drivers, this company would not have
been able to operate. So yes, absolutely, I agree with you.
They should be held accountable, but it shouldn't stop with them.

(21:34):
I think it needs to go up the chain. Thank
you so much for the call, Sergey. I appreciate it
very much. Let's go to Deb in Foxborough. Deb Welcome
to WRKO.

Speaker 7 (21:43):
How are you hi, Sandy good, how are you fine?

Speaker 2 (21:47):
Thank you? Who do you think is responsible here?

Speaker 5 (21:50):
Well?

Speaker 7 (21:50):
I think from the person who put the keys in
that guy's hand all the way up to Nuscombe, I
don't care. He can. He can go blame anybody he wants.
The buck stops with him in the state of California,
he's the governor. And uh, I just want to say
also that I am a passenger car driver and what

(22:15):
I see on the roads as far as respect from
the passenger cars to in relation to the trucks is appalling.

Speaker 6 (22:26):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (22:26):
You know, like when you drive on an exit entrance. Uh,
people see the yield sign of whatever they're seeing there,
and it's just shut your eyes and step on the gas.

Speaker 5 (22:36):
That's all it is there.

Speaker 7 (22:38):
And they're given they're given the people in that third lane,
a race to get out onto the road if they're
even a whiz that's there, and the and the uh,
like everybody's been saying this morning, the semis are are
a weapon and they and you know, they can't stop
on a dime or even uh you know sometimes work
because there's somebody directly beside them and it's just I,

(23:02):
you know, like it's it's a harrowing experienced sometimes just
you know, sitting back and watching what's going on in
front of you.

Speaker 4 (23:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
No, I have, and I've seen a lot of close
calls myself. I know exactly what you're talking about.

Speaker 4 (23:18):
Dev.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
I have seen and I have been guilty of trying to,
you know, race to get on the roads, to get
in front of a truck because I didn't want to
get stuck behind it because I can't see around it.
And so I have been guilty of that myself. Although
I have to say in recent years I've become much
more respectful of the big rigs. I've always been. I've
always been somewhat respectful of them, but I don't if

(23:41):
a truck wants to get in front of me, I
let it. At this point in time, I don't. I
don't try to to beat it to anything, but I
have done that in my in my youth, which was
in hindsight, extremely foolish given the size of those vehicles
and the damage that they could do. And like you said,
they can't just stop on a dime.