The Cost of the Modern Trucking Honor System
A Michigan trucking company's systemic violations led to a deadly crash that killed six and exposed gaps in federal oversight.
Bottom line up front for the complainers of long form: Federal investigators found that Ibrahim Fetic, a Highway Star Inc. driver, was operating 18 hours over federal limits when his tractor-trailer rear-ended a family SUV on March 2, 2013, killing six people in a fiery crash that could have been prevented. The tragedy exposed a company-wide culture of safety violations, prompting federal authorities to shut down the Michigan-based trucking operation permanently.
The Ford Expedition carrying the Gollnow family burst into flames on Interstate 65 near Elizabethtown, Kentucky, that Saturday morning at 11:13 a.m. James and Barbara Gollnow, both 62, were driving home to Wisconsin with their 18-year-old adopted daughter Serena, their 92-year-old friend Marion Champnoise, and four foster children after a family vacation in Florida. Two of the foster children survived: Hope Hoth, 15, who was transported to a hospital in Lexington with burns and a broken spine, and Aidian Ejnik, 12, who was taken to Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville with cuts to the back of his head.
The collision killed James and Barbara Gollnow; Marion Champnoise; Serena Gollnow; and foster children Soledad Smith, 8, and Gabriel Zumiga, 10. The crash also triggered a secondary accident on the opposite side of the highway that left Gregg Lohman, drummer for country music singer Kellie Pickler, hospitalized with head and neck injuries.
The Driver Behind the Wheel
Ibrahim Fetic, 47, of Troy, Michigan, was driving the Highway Star tractor-trailer that rear-ended the Gollnow family's SUV. At the scene, investigators say Fetic told police he saw the vehicle in front of him but couldn't brake in time. What federal investigators discovered later painted a far more troubling picture of how Fetic came to be behind the wheel that day.
A post-crash investigation by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) found that Fetic had been driving well in excess of hours-of-service regulations and had falsified his record-of-duty status log. Federal regulations limit commercial drivers to 70 hours of driving in an eight-day period. Investigators found that Fetic had actually driven 88 hours and was 18 hours over the maximum, which may have led to driver fatigue and him not seeing the Gollnow family's SUV slow down in the northbound lane of I-65.
FMCSA declared Fetic an imminent hazard and ordered him to immediately cease all commercial motor vehicle operations due to his failure to comply with federal hours-of-service regulations. The agency's investigation revealed a pattern of deliberate deception designed to circumvent safety rules meant to prevent exactly this type of tragedy.
A Company-Wide Problem
Highway Star Inc., based in Oak Park, Michigan, was ordered to cease operations immediately and declared an imminent hazard to public safety for failing to ensure its drivers complied with federal safety regulations. The company owned 35 vehicles, though the exact number of drivers it employed was unclear at the time of the shutdown.
Federal investigators discovered that the violations went beyond a single rogue driver. FMCSA found that Highway Star failed to require its drivers to comply with hours-of-service regulations and allowed or required its drivers operating commercial vehicles in interstate commerce to falsify their records-of-duty status and failed to preserve these records, resulting in the carrier being unable to monitor its drivers' compliance with regulations.
The systemic nature of the problems became clear during the FMCSA investigation. The agency found a company-wide practice of violating federal safety regulations, including disregarding driver qualification requirements by dispatching unqualified drivers, inadequate monitoring and controlling of driver compliance with hours-of-service requirements, and dispatching and operating unsafe vehicles that were grossly overloaded.
The most troubling for the industry was that Highway Star maintained what appeared to be a clean safety record before the crash. (We discussed how this is also the case for Greyhound.) Federal records showed that out of 124 driver inspections over a period before the crash, seven resulted in drivers being taken out of service, a rate of 5.6 percent, which was slightly above the national average of 5.51 percent. The company's vehicle inspection record was even better, with violations found in fewer than 20 percent of inspections.
A wrongful death lawsuit was filed on behalf of the four adults killed in the accident, naming both Fetic and Highway Star as defendants. The lawsuit sought compensatory and punitive damages and demanded a trial by jury. Family attorney Ron Hillerich told reporters: "The Gollnows, James and Barbara, were on their second family and they started their second family by taking care of foster children. So they were saints by any stretch of the imagination, which makes this all the more tragic". As attorney Tad Thomas explained: "The trucking company has a duty to audit his log books as well. They must have been asleep at the switch, no pun intended, as well".
The Reg Response
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said at the time: "Safety is our top priority. Truck companies and drivers who choose to operate unsafely have no place on our nation's roadways". FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro added: "Today's action reinforces our commitment to setting a high safety bar for those operating in the motor carrier industry. It sends a strong and important message that companies and drivers who blatantly disregard safety will be found and removed from the road".
The Highway Star case became part of a broader federal crackdown on hours-of-service violations. According to FMCSA enforcement data, log falsification has been the fourth most common driver-related violation discovered in roadside inspections from 2019 to 2023, accounting for nearly 5% of all violations found during that timeframe. Even more concerning, FMCSA data indicates that log falsifications are the second most common violations found in compliance reviews, with investigators discovering nearly 21,000 false log violations during investigations from 2019 to 2023. The FMCSA imposes fines of up to $13,885 per falsification, and the average FMCSA fine for log falsification is nearly $7,000.
The Highway Star tragedy occurred before the widespread implementation of electronic logging devices (ELDs), which were mandated by federal law in later years to address exactly the type of violations that led to the Kentucky crash but data shows that ELDs have not eliminated log falsification, as many expected they would.
According to a 2020 report by the American Transportation Research Institute, hours-of-service violations, including log falsifications, top the list of issues contributing to so-called "nuclear verdicts" against trucking companies, jury awards exceeding $10 million in trucking accident cases.
Where Are They Now?
The current whereabouts and status of Ibrahim Fetic remain unclear more than a decade after the crash. Public records searches and court documents from the civil litigation do not reveal whether Fetic faced criminal charges related to the fatal collision, though the FMCSA's "imminent hazard" declaration permanently barred him from operating commercial motor vehicles.
Highway Star Inc. was permanently shut down by federal order and no longer exists as a business entity. The company's DOT operating authority was revoked, and its USDOT number was deactivated following the FMCSA's investigation. Saed and his wife, Slavica Mesanovic, apparently work for their son, Admir Mesanovic, who owns United Truck Sales in Michigan, along with a host of other companies. The company was started the same year Highway Star was shut down, with Admir running the company since its founding, when he would have been 26 years old with a fresh degree in biochemistry. He also owns Vector Logistics.
The two surviving children from the Gollnow family faced long recoveries from their injuries. Details about their current status and the resolution of the civil lawsuit have not been made public, as is common in settlements involving minors.
Lessons That Remain Relevant
The Highway Star case drives home challenges in commercial trucking safety that remain relevant today. Despite advances in technology and regulation, hours-of-service violations continue to be among the most common infractions discovered during federal inspections and audits.
The case also demonstrates how seemingly compliant companies can harbor systemic safety problems that don't surface until a tragic accident occurs. Highway Star's inspection record appeared satisfactory before the crash, raising questions about whether current oversight mechanisms are sufficient to identify problem carriers before accidents happen.
For families like the Gollnows, who dedicated their lives to caring for foster children, the tragedy represents more than statistics about trucking safety violations. It's a reminder that behind every transportation accident are real people whose lives are forever changed by decisions made in corporate boardrooms and truck cabs hundreds of miles away.
The case is a reminder that in an industry where public safety depends on individual drivers and companies following the rules, the consequences of cutting corners can be measured not just in fines and shutdowns, but in lives lost and families destroyed.
As federal regulators continue to grapple with trucking safety issues, the Highway Star tragedy is a good example of what happens when the system fails, and why vigilant enforcement of safety regs remains as critical today as it was on that March morning in 2013 when six lives were lost on a Kentucky highway.