According to an investigation by CalMatters, semi-truck drivers in California facing vehicular manslaughter charges have been allowed to continue driving, raising serious concerns. The investigation highlighted multiple instances where drivers with fatal collision histories retained their licenses and, tragically, went on to cause more deaths.
This investigation is part of CalMatters’ ongoing series titled “License to Kill,” the latest of which was published on October 19. The report claimed that the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) failed to effectively prevent these individuals from operating their vehicles.
One particularly heartbreaking case involved Loren Chow, whose wife Jenny died following a collision with a semi-truck in 2022. He’s currently involved in a lawsuit against the DMV, stating, “I would have had my partner still. We’d be a family of four. Jenny would have seen Dylan and Tyler graduate from high school,” he lamented. “If only the DMV had done what any person in their right mind would have done, which is to suspend the license.”
In an earlier report from June 2025, the DMV shifted blame onto law enforcement and the California court system, claiming they did not report vehicular manslaughter charges to the DMV. However, both the DMV and the California Highway Patrol did not respond to requests for comment.
Baljit Singh, the driver responsible for Jenny Chow’s death, had a previous hit-and-run incident in which he killed a 26-year-old cyclist in 2021 but was still allowed to drive. The DMV only revoked Singh’s license in 2024, after his conviction for these incidents.
CalMatters identified more truck drivers with histories of reckless driving who continued to operate on the roads despite past fatalities. One such driver, Marco Rodriguez, killed a man named Jon Israel after his truck struck Israel’s vehicle. Even after facing convictions, Rodriguez was repeatedly ticketed for unsafe driving yet had his trucking license renewed earlier this year.
This situation comes on the heels of the DMV’s controversial issuance of 17,000 commercial driver licenses to unsafe foreign drivers, which led to an audit by the Trump administration in November 2025. The Department of Transportation subsequently sent a non-compliance letter to California for failing to revoke these licenses.
According to DOT Secretary Sean Duffy, “It’s reckoning day for Governor Gavin Newsom and California. Our demands were simple: follow the rules and fix the system so this never happens again.” He criticized the governor for prioritizing illegal immigrants over public safety.
Additionally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained numerous undocumented foreign nationals with commercial driver licenses who were involved in severe traffic incidents. One of them, Sukhdev Singh, allegedly caused a serious accident in Indiana after obtaining a Commercial Driver’s License in New York.
California law states that a truck driver convicted of manslaughter cannot operate large vehicles for at least 12 months. However, delays in criminal proceedings can allow these drivers to continue working on the roads, sometimes for years. Data from the DOT indicates that between 2015 and 2024, 10% of all fatalities in California were attributed to crashes involving large trucks.
