Firm Faulted Before Crash

The company that owns the runaway truck involved in a fatal accident this week was previously faulted by the state for failing to maintain the emergency braking systems on its trucks, and for not ensuring that its drivers held valid licenses.

Thursday’s 12-car accident involved both failed brakes and an unlicensed truck driver.

In other information that emerged Friday, police said brake problems had been reported on the same truck three months ago. The state Department of Motor Vehicles reported that it had informed the company, Peterson Brothers Construction, three times that the trucker’s license had expired. And Anaheim city officials said the truck lacked the required permit to travel on the steep road where the accident occurred.

A Peterson Brothers official said Friday that the company has worked hard to maintain a safe fleet of trucks, has fixed any problems that cropped up and overall has a good safety record.

“Problems fixed?” said company General Manager Peter McNabb. “In an operation of this size and type, we have to address these things. Of course we fixed it. We have to stay on top of our game.”

Anthony R. Saiz, a 47-year-old Lakewood man driving on an expired license and with an extensive history of traffic violations, apparently lost the ability to brake his rig on a steep grade in Anaheim Hills and plowed into a line of cars. Saiz suffered internal injuries and two broken legs and was listed in critical condition Friday at UCI Medical Center in Orange. Kenneth Michael Larkin, 53, of Anaheim Hills died in the crash and five others suffered minor injuries.

The state Highway Patrol and Department of Motor Vehicles released several documents Friday that raised questions about the company’s truck maintenance and oversight of its drivers’ records.

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The CHP’s reports, based on a routine biannual inspection in October 1999, showed that the company’s brake problems had cropped up well before Thursday.

The report pointed specifically to the trucks’ emergency stopping systems as a problem area. In the case of one vehicle, the entire emergency brake system was inoperable, according to CHP reports.

In addition to maintenance issues, the CHP faulted the company for failing to verify that drivers’ licenses were current--an issue that takes on new significance because Saiz’s license expired in June 2000.

McNabb said that any violations were quickly addressed and played no role in Thursday’s accident.

CHP records also show that vehicles registered to Peterson Brothers Construction received 24 citations from April to December 2000; five were for brake violations. McNabb said those problems were also fixed.

DMV notified the company three times that Saiz’s license had expired and that Saiz tried unsuccessfully to renew the license, department spokesman Bill Branch said.

McNabb said he does not believe the license is expired and says the DMV has made a mistake in its record-keeping.

Police said their DMV records also show an expired license, but their investigation is focusing more on the vehicle’s brakes and maintenance, particularly because another driver had reported brake problems to the company on the same truck in December. Peterson Brothers provided police with documents showing the earlier report.

“We don’t know if that problem was fixed or not,” Anaheim Police traffic Sgt. Ben Hittesdorf said. “We’re looking into that.”

Police on Friday sifted through more than 100 photographs taken at the scene in their continuing attempt to reconstruct the accident. They sought a search warrant for UCI Medical Center in Orange to obtain results of Saiz’s blood test, a routine part of the investigation. An investigator visited the hospital, but Hittesdorf said it is likely to be a couple of more days before they get a complete statement from Saiz because he remains in critical condition.

Local residents and Larkin’s family converted the accident scene--still marked with a web of skids in the intersection--into a memorial to the popular optometrist.

People left bouquets of red roses and yellow carnations, and a teddy bear. Larkin’s parents left flowers with a card that read, “To Our Precious Son.”

And nearby, residents were beginning to mobilize. They passed out hundreds of fliers that read, “Another tragedy should not have to happen before the city takes action.”

“People are going too fast,” said Cindy Olson, whose daughter attends Imperial Elementary School, half a block from the intersection. “When I sit at that light, I pray that nothing happens.”

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Principal city traffic engineer Alfred Yalda stood firm Friday that everything has been done to ensure that the intersection is safe.

The street “was properly surveyed, properly posted and we put additional warning signs out there,” Yalda said.

The signs warn that trucks weighing more than 6,000 pounds are not allowed on the roadway without a city permit. Saiz’s truck, carrying gravel and towing a tractor on a flatbed, weighed roughly 28,000 pounds. On Friday, Anaheim officials reported that there was no record of such a permit being issued to the company.

McNabb responded: “I’ve never heard of a permit to drive down there.”

The stretch in question is on a steep 12% grade and has long been a difficult run for trucks. While some avoid the area, McNabb said that is not an option.

“If you work on any one of the thousands of homes between Katella and Nohl Ranch Road, you know that this is the only way to get in and out of there,” he said. “Otherwise, you have to go miles and miles around.”

Saiz was delivering a load of gravel about 7:30 a.m. Thursday, headed north on Imperial Highway. Saiz, who has been cited eight times since May 1998 for various infractions, tried to brake unsuccessfully, blared his horn and hit numerous cars as he ran a red light and crossed the median.

Safety advocates said problems with truck maintenance and truckers’ driving records are commonplace in the industry, which they say needs better policing.

“Too many companies that have brake failures don’t monitor their vehicles adequately because it’s expensive, and they’re constantly cutting cost corners to make ends meet,” said Brian O’Neill, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit highway safety research organization based in Arlington, Va.

Others said there is a shortage of qualified drivers because of low pay and bad hours.

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Contributing to this report were staff writers Stanley Allison, Jerry Hicks, Mai Tran and Kimi Yoshino.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Tracking Trouble

Accidents and number injured at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Nohl Ranch Road:

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TOTAL NUMBER YEAR ACCIDENTS INJURED 1995 8 8 1996 10 9 1997 8 2 1998 12 15 1999 9 3 2000 3 2 TOTAL 50 39

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Source: CHP