WASHINGTON — The latest study by the Government Accountability Office shows that hundreds of trucking and bus companies continue to travel on U.S. highways despite having their operating licences yanked for safety violations.

According to the Associated Press, which obtained a copy of the report, a handful of companies have been able to keep operating for years by registering under different names.

The number is miniscule relative to the entire American trucking force, but the GAO found 1,073 commercial carriers to be possible "reincarnations" between 2007 and 2008.

Although they placed out of service for repeat safety or drug and alcohol violations among drivers, many keep hauling by setting up shop with a new nameplate.

Some are even able to get away with using the same address, owner name, employees and contact numbers, states the report.

The report also found similar instances with 20 of the 220 commercial bus companies that had been fined and shut down during the same period.

"These companies pose a safety threat to the motoring public," wrote Greg Kutz, GAO’s managing director for special investigations. "We believe that these carriers reincarnated into new companies to evade fines and avoid performing the necessary corrective actions."

The GAO report found that at least by federal regulators evaded compliance by setting up shop under a new name, the same tactic used by the bus operator in the Texas crash.

In response, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it had put in place new oversight measures after last August’s crash involving an unlicensed Texas charter bus that blew a tire and skidded of the highway, killing 17 people. 

FMCSA says it introduced a new matching process to compare new entrants to poor-performing motor carriers dating back to 2003.