Congress Mandates Regulations, CSA Revisions Recommended, Civil Penalties Raised

In 2012 Congress passed the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) highway funding bill. Contained in that bill was a mandate that the DOT finalize a regulation requiring electronic on board recorders for hours of service. The deadline was October, 2013. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced that it will not be able to meet that deadline. It is expected that in September the agency will publish a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking outlining their plans to publish a final rule a year later. According to FMCSA the regulation will probably become mandatory two years later in 2016.

Another mandate in MAP-21 is that FMCSA finalize training standards for new truck drivers. In 2007 the agency published a proposed rule that would have required 120 hours of training, most of that behind the wheel. After much criticism the agency decided not to move ahead and withdrew the proposal.

FMCSA held a listening session at the Mid America Truck Show in Louisville. The truck drivers who spoke at that session were in agreement that a training period of 2-3 weeks was far too short. Some mentioned a training period as long as 6 months, including on the road time with another driver. There was a strong sentiment voiced that this on the road time should not be spent running team since the “instructor” would spend a great deal of time in the bunk and be unavailable to monitor and mentor the student driver.

Training school representatives were concerned about a possible accreditation reguirement which could potentially be costly and involve another government agency, the Department of Education. Another concern was the effect that a rigid time based curriculum would have on the quality of training. Some schools felt that a results based curriculum would produce a better quality student since they couldn’t move on to the next step until they had mastered the previous one.

All in all this will prove to be an interesting situation as it develops.

CSA is again (still) in the news. A recent development was a report submitted to
the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recommending that certain BASIC scores not be publicly released until problems with the data are corrected:

• Controlled Substance/Alcohol
• Driver Fitness
• Hazardous Materials — currently private but FMCSA could make it public later this year.

The report was submitted by a subcommittee of the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee and its members come from motor carriers, safety advocacy groups and
trade associations. The committee also echoed a long-standing request that crash data where the motor carrier was not at fault should be excluded from that carrier’s Crash BASIC.

Law enforcement officials would still be able to view all CSA information but the general public would not have access to data that was private. The concern is that the data, even with an FMCSA disclaimer, could influence a shipper’s decision to use a motor carrier and could also be used in a post-crash lawsuit.

A website operated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) contains automobile safety information. You can research crash testing ratings as well as recall information. You can even subscribe to automatic notices about future vehicle recalls. Visit the Safercar web site to research your current or next vehicle.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has issued a final rule that revises civil penalties for regulatory violations. These new amounts are currently in effect and apply to violations occurring on or after October 1, 2012. The changes are as follows:

• Revise the maximum civil penalty from $55,000 to $75,000 for a person who knowingly violates the Federal hazardous material transportation law or a regulation, order, special permit, or approval issued under that law.
• Revise the maximum civil penalty from $110,000 to $175,000 for a person who knowingly violates the Federal hazardous material transportation law or a regulation, order, special permit, or approval issued under that law that results in death, serious illness, or severe injury to any person or substantial destruction of the property.
• Removing the current $250 minimum civil penalty.
• Increasing the minimum penalty amount to $450 for a training violation.