With the recent guilty plea of Adrian Salari, the saga of RussianTruckingSchool.com nears its conclusion. This case arose from four scammers, who targeted Russian speaking individuals who wanted to become commercial truck drivers. Operating out of Florida, Mr. Salari, Ellariy Medvenik, Natalia Dontsova, and Clarence Davis were responsible for fraudulently obtaining Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs) for roughly 600 people.
Not only did these 4 individuals cheat 600 well-meaning immigrants out of thousands of dollars, they released a large number of unqualified truck drivers on to our nation’s highways, endangering all of us in the process.
Speaking Out About Dangerous Drivers Is Not Bashing Truckers or Businesses
At Grossman Law Offices, we handle a large number of commercial truck accident cases every year. In addition to getting compensation for victims, we also use this platform to attempt to raise public awareness about dangerous practices in the commercial trucking industry. It doesn’t matter that we’ve litigated countless cases involving drunk truck drivers, truck drivers on drugs, or completely unqualified truck drivers, when we point out that some truck drivers do not belong on the road, we invariably get one of two responses.
The first is that some suggest we think all truck drivers are dangerous. We understand how a lot of what we do can come off this way. We’re a lot like the nightly news in that regard. Want to get on the evening news? The best way to do that is by engaging in some truly shocking, repulsive behavior. Count the number of murderers on the news and then count the number of people who are doing something awesome in the community who end up profiled. You’re likely to see a whole lot more murderers.
No one would accuse the news of portraying every person in the community as a criminal, just as focusing on the bad truck drivers doesn't mean that we think the vast majority of truckers aren't hard-working, amazing people.
In the same vein, the vast majority of professional truck drivers do an awesome job, safely navigating over a million miles throughout their careers without incident. The truck drivers involved in the cases we deal with are the dangerous minority, perhaps as rare as criminals in the community at large. No one would accuse the news of portraying every person in the community as a criminal, just as focusing on the bad truck drivers doesn’t mean that we think the vast majority of truckers aren’t hard-working, amazing people.
Another reaction from those who are less familiar with the trucking industry is that we are essentially crying wolf. This group of people thinks that we have taken a problem that doesn’t exist, trucking companies hiring and employing unqualified, dangerous truck drivers, and blown it completely out of proportion. Most of these folks know little about the trucking industry and are generally inclined to live in a world of their own making, where negligent truck drivers and trucking companies don’t cause accidents, rather it’s lawyers looking for an easy buck who make a big deal out of nothing.
While we understand that truck drivers as a whole are proud people, likely to misinterpret our criticisms of certain parts of the industry, we cannot understand how the latter group finds it a travesty when businesses are held to account for their reckless behavior.
This Florida case is just once instance that confirms a lot of what we’ve talked about over the years. While they are certainly in the minority, there are bad actors in the trucking industry. It is bad actors, like the folks who ran this fake trucking school that not only scam otherwise good people just looking for a career, but they put all of us who use the roads, commuters and commercial truck drivers alike, at risk of injury, or worse.
The Outrageous Behavior of RussianTruckingSchool.com
The scam that was overseen by Salari and others went something like this. The group would advertise in Russian and to recent Russian immigrants, offering their school as means for them to get Commercial Driver’s Licenses. That is red flag number one, as commercial truck drivers are required to know English according to federal regulations.
Through an undisclosed means, they would communicate answers to the students during written exams. This was necessary, because the test was administered in English, which most of these immigrants could not read and understand. In the event that a student failed the test, the test administrator would simply tack on another $75 to the test fee in order to pass them.
Once these folks had enrolled in the school, paying anywhere from $1,800 to $5,000, some in the group would help them cheat on the written portion of the CDL exams. Through an undisclosed means, they would communicate answers to the students during written exams. This was necessary, because the test was administered in English, which most of these immigrants could not read and understand. In the event that a student failed the test, the test administrator would simply tack on another $75 to the test fee in order to pass them. You read that correctly, $75 was all it took for a test administrator to pass an unqualified driver.
These rules, which the scammers helped would be truck drivers circumvent, are the bare minimum that a prospective truck driver needs to know in order to operate safely on the highway. Without this basic knowledge, these unqualified drivers can cause a tremendous amount of harm to other drivers on the road.
In short, RussianTruckingSchool.com scammed immigrants and put the rest of us at risk. Their behavior is certainly extreme by industry standards and probably why they were caught. While we acknowledge that the vast majority of driving schools are on the up and up, this case shows how easy it is for a small group of corrupt people to allow unqualified drivers on our roads.
Of course, the law not only requires that trucking schools be on the up and up, but every trucking company should have checks in place on their end to ensure that their drivers can safely operate a vehicle. These employer tests assess a driver’s ability to maneuver a truck in a safe manner. The problem our firm has come across over the year is that many times, companies desperate for drivers will sign off on just about anyone.
Perhaps the most outrageous example we have come across is a company in west Texas that certified that its driver demonstrated proficiency to drive in changing weather conditions. This was particularly odd since her evaluation only lasted for 20 minutes. While Texans like to joke about how quickly the weather can change, it is doubtful that their were any drastic changes in that 20 minutes. When this driving later pulled out in front of another motorist on a foggy night, causing a crash that left our client with a serious, permanent, and debilitating brain injury, it illustrated why employers need to ensure that their drivers are qualified, irrespective of what a trucking school says.
The Problem of Bad and Unqualified Truck Drivers
According to industry sources, there are over 3.5 million commercial truck drivers in the United States. The vast majority of these drivers are the absolute best, safest drivers on the road, safely navigating millions of miles over their careers. However, even if we generously assume that 99% of the drivers on the road fall into this category, the means that there are 35,000 drivers who have absolutely no business being behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler.
However, even if we generously assume that 99% of the drivers on the road fall into this category, the means that there are 35,000 drivers who have absolutely no business being behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler.
Given that 600 drivers who shouldn’t be on the road, managed to get their CDL from this one scam in Florida, the number of bad drivers is most likely higher.
As a country, we recognize that operating large trucks is inherently more dangerous than driving a car. The reason for this is that the amount of damage a truck accident can cause is far more devastating than anything a passenger car can inflict. This is why truck drivers face far greater scrutiny than other drivers. They are subject to drug testing, yearly physicals, and a litany of other requirements. It is also why the federal government mandates that commercial trucks be insured for at least $750,000.
In our experience, the drivers who injure our clients don’t have spotless records and commit one reckless act. Instead, when we dig into their driving histories, there are often multiple terminations for safety violations, drug use, or other red flags that indicate a driver that shouldn’t be on the road.
Related Articles From Our Blog
2015 Texas Vehicle Accident Statistics Send Mixed Messages
Attention Truckers: You're Not On The Clock When You're In the Sleeper Berth
Mechanical Failures in Single-Vehicle 18-Wheeler Accidents
Fiery South Dallas 18-Wheeler Accident Exposes Flaw in Texas Wrongful Death Laws
Car Accident with Fire Truck, Police Car, or Government Vehicle: Here's How it Works
The blame falls as much on companies who put them out on the road as it does the unqualified truck drivers. We are sympathetic to those in a difficult industry, one anticipated to have a shortage of as many as 50,000 drivers by the end of the year. However, when companies start putting just anyone on the road, the real world consequences can be counted in lives that are destroyed or ended.
This trucking school scam played upon the desperation of immigrants and businesses alike. These immigrants thought they were being given the tools to earn a decent living, while they were likely snapped up by trucking companies desperate for drivers. If the shortage of qualified drivers continues to grow, as it has for the past decade, stories like that of RussianTruckingSchool.com will become more commonplace.
The consequences of truck driver shortages and unqualified drivers aren’t mere speculation, but something our firm has seen quite a bit of. During the last west Texas oil boom, the extreme shortage in drivers led to a large spike in trucking accidents. Companies desperate for drivers began to hire anyone they could plausibly put behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler. As a result, the number of accidents skyrocketed, resulting in relatively small cities like Midland and Odessa having accident rates that were 2 and 3 times higher than in large metropolitan areas like Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.
While some in the public may consider truck accident attorneys, like Michael Grossman, to trade in human tragedy, the fact of the matter is that firms such a ours act as the last line of defense for the public. Companies that put unqualified drivers on the road, whether shady trucking schools, or the businesses that hire their graduates, endanger us all for money. Firms like ours have the ability to help families hit these companies in the only place they care about, their wallets. In the process, we do our small part to help families rebuild their lives after an accident and make the highways just a bit safer for everyone.
The post Scam Firm Puts 600 Unqualified Truck Drivers on the Road appeared first on Grossman Law.