How to watch our hour-long trucking special on the 10 Tampa Bay News app.
TAMPA, Fla. — 10 Tampa Bay News investigative reporter Jennifer Titus and WFAA senior investigative reporter Tanya Eiserer spent a year tracking a troubling pattern behind some of the deadliest big-rig crashes in America and found systemic failures that allow unsafe trucking companies to stay on the road.
Across the country, families are being devastated by deadly crashes involving big rigs, and our year-long investigation found many of these tragedies trace back to loopholes and enforcement gaps that let dangerous carriers keep operating.
In Blind Spots, Eiserer and Titus uncovered how trucking companies can exploit those loopholes — even after catastrophic crashes and serious safety lapses. Federal law prohibits so-called “chameleon carriers,” companies that shut down after safety problems and reopen under new names. But our reporting shows the practice continues, and enforcement often fails to stop it.
The series begins with a woman severely injured in Florida when a semi slammed into her family’s van at a red light. Records show the driver tested positive for meth and morphine, yet the case was never pursued criminally. Depositions also raised troubling questions about paperwork, training, and trucking “registration” companies that handle federal forms for owners who may not fully understand safety rules.
Then, in Texas, the 2021 Fort Worth I-35 pileup reveals another dangerous practice: double brokering, when loads are illegally handed off to unauthorized carriers — often without brokers realizing who is hauling the freight until after a crash.
Their investigation also follows a deadly pattern across state lines from Texas to Wyoming, where a crash tied to the same people ended with an EMT killed after a semi slammed into an ambulance on an icy highway.
They also examine Hope Trans, linked to the devastating Terrell crash that killed five people, with former drivers alleging pressure to drive beyond legal limits and manipulate logs — while regulators rarely use their strongest tools to shut dangerous carriers down.
Blind Spots exposes a nationwide pattern: different states, different families — the same failures. Blind Spots will be available to stream for free on Monday, Feb. 2, under 10 Investigates in the news tab on the free 10 Tampa Bay News app for your TV.
Watch investigations on the 10 Tampa Bay News app
Here are step-by-step instructions on how to get the 10 Tampa Bay News app on your smart TV:
Go to the app store on your Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV device.Search for “10 Tampa Bay News”Select the 10 Tampa Bay News app and download for free.Start watching 10 Tampa Bay newscasts and exclusive streaming content for free.
You can also find additional Blind Spots content here.