U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy has put the spotlight on a fatal truck accident in Florida, announcing that his department has initiated an investigation into the crash that claimed three lives. Duffy disclosed that the probe, conducted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), will look into the driver and the motor carrier, White Hawk Carriers, Inc., as detailed in a statement obtained by the U.S. Department of Transportation's briefing room.
Early findings are already drawing attention, controversy, and concern because the driver, who failed an English Language Proficiency assessment during FMCSA's inquiry, should not have been authorized to operate a commercial vehicle according to Duffy, “If states had followed the rules, this driver would never have been behind the wheel and three precious lives would still be with us. This crash was a preventable tragedy directly caused by reckless decisions and compounded by despicable failures. Non-enforcement and radical immigration policies have turned the trucking industry into a lawless frontier, resulting in unqualified foreign drivers improperly acquiring licenses to operate 40-ton vehicles.” The investigation kicked off with an on-site compliance inspection at the California-based carrier last Thursday, where authorities reviewed critical documentation and footage from the crash, and they conducted several interviews, including one with the driver involved in the truck mishap, as noted by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The FMCSA found that the driver was issued a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) by Washington State in 2023, and linguistically, things went south from there, California jumped in a year later with a limited-term/non-domiciled CDL, and most recently, in July 2025, New Mexico authorities pulled the driver over and apparently overlooked the need to perform an ELP assessment, even after a speeding ticket was issued. New Mexico authorities, Secretary Duffy highlighted, have yet to enforce the ELP as a mandatory out-of-service condition, a requirement that's been on the books since late June.
Duffy promises action and accountability: "We will use every tool at our disposal to hold these states and bad actors accountable. President Trump and I will restore safety to our roads. The families of the deceased deserve justice,” according to the Department's statement.
