New Trucking Safety Rule Should Protect Users Of The Roads

Today, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released a final rule allowing the agency to suspend or revoke the operating authority of for-hire motor carriers. Here is the rule: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/01/22/2014-01174/patterns-of-safety-violations-by-motor-carrier-management As truck accident attorney, I am hopefull the most dangerous violators can be dealt with more quickly.

FMCSA intends to apply the rule in the most egregious cases where the motor carrier has committed a pattern of unsafe practices. Under the rule, if FMCSA suspects that an officer of a bus or truck company has demonstrated a pattern of avoiding regulatory compliance or ignoring civil penalties for safety violations, the agency would investigate that carrier’s management structure and operations to determine if it is deliberately concealing safety violations. If a pattern of unsafe practices is found, FMCSA would suspend or revoke the company’s authority to operate.

The new rule includes a trucking company’s failure to:

1. Comply with statutory or regulatory safety requirements
2. Comply with FMCSA, state, or local orders intended to redress violations of federal regulatory safety requirements
3. Pay civil penalties for violations of regulatory safety requirements
4. Respond to enforcement actions arising out of violations of regulatory safety requirements.

The rule addresses the problem of those who attempt to avoid regulatory compliance or mask noncompliance by submitting new applications for registration, often under a different name, to continue operations after being placed out of service. Lets get the bad operators off the road.