Invoking law that gives the U.S. Transportation Department strong enforcement power for improving safety, U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater announced a major change to the fitness procedures of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Regulations. The change will require all “unfit” motor carriers to improve or stop operating their trucks and buses in interstate commerce.
This action, a rule that becomes effective on Nov. 20, 2000, prohibits any motor carrier found to be unfit from operating commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce. It applies powers provided by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st century (TEA-21). Previously established motor carrier safety regulations provided shutdown procedures only for passenger and hazardous material (HAZMAT) carriers with unsatisfactory ratings.
Under this amended rule, the FMCSA will consider an unsatisfactory safety rating a determination that a carrier is unfit. An unsatisfactory safety rating means that a motor carrier does not have adequate safety controls in place. These safety ratings are assigned by safety investigators as a result of compliance reviews during which federal regulatory violations are discovered and on-the-road performance factors are examined.
Most motor carriers will have 60 days after the FMCSA makes a determination of unfitness to improve their safety fitness or cease operations. The agency may extend the compliance period another 60 days only if the motor carrier is making a good faith effort to improve its safety fitness.
--Passenger and HAZMAT carriers will continue to have 45 days to correct deficiencies.
--The regulation will not be applied retroactively. It applies only to motor carriers rated unsatisfactory on or after the effective date of the final role.
--Carriers holding an unsatisfactory rating at the time the rule becomes effective are not subject to immediate shutdown. However, if, after a follow-up visit, the carrier still is unfit as determined by a safety regulator, the new provisions will apply.
--Under a provision of TEA-21, federal agencies will be prohibited from using a motor carrier to provide interstate transportation if it has been rated unsatisfactory on or after the effective date of a final rule.