The Sun Journal requested that the Bureau of Motor Vehicles run license record checks on 274 tractor-trailer drivers involved in accidents so far this year.

BMV could only locate records on 241 drivers. BMV and Maine State Police officials can’t agree on why records for the other 33 – more than 10 percent of the total – couldn’t be found.

BMV spokesman Doug Dunbar said it was because exact names or birth dates of the truck drivers recorded by police were not the same as those on BMV records – often off by a few numbers or letters – and, therefore, couldn’t be immediately matched.

Trying variations, the BMV was able to make the match, but by law could not release the information. Trooper Darren Foster said accident report information is taken directly off a drivers’ license by police.

“And as far as the mistyping, anything is possible, but that seems like an awful high number for mistakes,” he added.

Additionally, in some cases, a drivers’ most recent accident was not noted on their BMV driving record because of an initial error, Dunbar said. In those cases, the accident report was kicked into a manual entry pile. That takes longer.

Dunbar said incorrect information or delayed entry was “absolutely not” to blame for trucker Scott Hewitt not getting taken off the road the day before his latest fatal accident in Maine.

He was stopped in upstate New York on July 28.

Police there say Hewitt’s license came back as valid, not suspended, when they checked.

Hewitt’s license was under suspension in Maine.

“There’s absolutely no chance New York did not get the correct information,” Dunbar said. “Many, many steps have been taken to confirm the national database had the correct information.”

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