Crashed tanker had record of safety violations

The gasoline tanker that crashed and exploded this week on a Bay Area freeway had been cited repeatedly for safety violations and was ordered off the road last year because its faulty brakes posed an imminent threat to public safety, according to federal records.

Since 2004, 27 violations have been linked to the tanker or its driver, ranging from unsafe brakes and tires to carrying more gasoline than the truck was rated for, according to documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The 6-year-old tanker was incinerated in an explosion that collapsed an interstate connector to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. It was owned by Sabek Transportation, a South San Francisco-based company that operates a fleet of eight trucks to ship gasoline between a refinery in Benicia and a string of Gas and Shop stations throughout the Bay Area.

The records obtained from the Motor Carrier Safety Administration show Sabek’s trucks were cited for at least 60 violations in the last three years during California Highway Patrol inspections. The Sabek truck involved in Sunday’s accident had not passed a single inspection since summer 2004 without at least one violation, according to the federal records.

Throughout that time, the company maintained an overall “satisfactory” safety ranking from the CHP.

California Highway Patrol Chief Steve Vaughn said the steep increase in Sabek trucks failing to pass inspections, especially in the last year, is a concern. Before Sunday’s accident, the CHP was scheduled to begin a comprehensive review of the company that is performed every two years.

Since the accident, however, the CHP has accelerated its inspections of Sabek’s fleet. Vaughn said the agency will take action if officers find systemic safety problems.

“We can suspend their license or take many other steps,” Vaughn said. “Then again, if we find this is a string of bad luck, we may not.”

Sabek has not returned numerous telephone messages left by the Associated Press since Sunday’s explosion.

John Conley, president of the National Tank Truck Carriers, an industry lobbying group, said the four violations for carrying excess gasoline raise immediate questions.

“Gasoline is one of the easiest things to measure,” he said. “It weighs about 7 pounds a gallon, it’s a very consistent load, and those shippers are doing the same trips every day.”

He added that four such citations probably were not enough to show a pattern of neglect.

According to the California Highway Patrol, the truck had just left a refinery carrying 8,600 gallons of gasoline when it crashed en route to a gas station near Oakland International Airport.

Investigators have not assigned blame in the case but have said skid marks at the accident scene suggest the driver was speeding before the rig overturned and burst into flames.

The heat melted the freeway connector overhead, a key link between San Francisco and its eastern suburbs. The weight of the collapse also damaged the ramp below.

The truck driver, James Mosqueda, remains hospitalized with second-degree burns.

Records from the California Department of Motor Vehicles obtained by the Associated Press show he had previously had his license revoked or suspended, but do not give the reason.

Mosqueda, 51, had a clean driving record in the 10 years before the crash, but court records show he also had a series of criminal convictions between 1981 and 1996.