The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has closed down four motor carriers based in Olathe, Kan., accused of being reincarnated “chameleons” for an unsafe truck company previously shut down by the agency.

Earlier this year, Royal Transport Inc., Nationwide Inc., Freight Inc. and Midwest A Inc. were all found to be functioning under common operation and control in order to avoid a negative compliance history. The agency also determined that Freight Inc. and Midwest A Inc. were created to avoid the out-of-service order issued against Nationwide Inc. on July 16, 2008, for failure to pay civil penalties. During its investigation, FMCSA discovered the carriers were operating the same vehicles, using the same drivers and maintaining the same operational and management structure as Royal Inc.

"Today’s action is another step toward raising the bar for commercial vehicle and roadway safety,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro. “It sends a strong and important message that companies that attempt to evade safety regulations by reincarnating will be found and removed from the road.”

All documents pertaining to the Royal Transport, Inc., and Nationwide, Inc., - Final Decision on Petition for Administrative Review of Operations Out-of-Service and Record Consolidation Order – can be viewed at: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FMCSA-2013-0079-0004.