FMCSA Swings the Ax to Old Regulations

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Week of August 22, 2011
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The Obama Administration is waging war against regulations deemed harmful to small businesses; every agency is taking the ax to out dated or harmful regulations and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is no exception.

In an effort to kick-start the struggling economy, President Obama has ordered every Federal agency to review the regulations that it enforces and to trim the fat. Any regulations deemed harmful to small businesses in particular as well as those that are out dated or serve no current purpose are to be withdrawn.

The Department of Transportation is no exception; every agency of the department has submitted regulations for review. This issue will focus on the regulations identified by FMCSA as being ax-able.

So These Regulations Are Gone?

No. Not yet at least. FMCSA (as well as the other agencies) have consulted with industry insiders to identify regulations that can be gotten rid of. The regulations will now have to be reviewed before they are entirely axed. Quite what the percentage of those that were highlighted that will be axed remains to be seen.

Which Regulations Are Up for Review?

Below is a complete list of the regulations that are up for review. Beneath each regulation is an excerpt from the explanation issued by FMCSA as to why the regulation could be cut or changed.

49 CFR 383.31:

FMCSA acknowledges [the American Trucking Associations] concerns given that 49 CFR 384.209 requires the licensing agency for the State in which the conviction took place to notify the State licensing Agency that issued the CDL. Both sections 383.31 and 384.209 require that the notifications take place within 30 days of the conviction.

49 CFR 395.1(g):

The statutory exemption from the HOS requirements provided for certain motor carriers transporting grapes in New York expired on September 30, 2009, and that the implementing regulation under 49 CFR 395 should be removed.

49 CFR 392.7 and 396.13:

Two regulations concerning driver vehicle inspections should be reviewed to eliminate redundancies. The pretrip review doesn’t require any documentation or paperwork. [FMCSA] will review these requirements to consider whether they could be streamlined to reduce burden without reducing safety.

49 CFR Part 395:

FMCSA will soon issue a final rule to codify the statutory exemption provided by the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA of 2008). The Act provides that employees of railroad contractors and subcontractors who are engaged in installing, repairing, or maintaining signal systems are now governed exclusively by the HOS laws administered by FRA.

49 CFR Parts 390, 391, 395 and 396:

ATA and some of its key members have expressed an interest in the use of electronic signatures. However, the current safety regulations require traditional signatures. These options would provide significant paperwork reductions and be less burdensome to the industry than the paper records we currently require.

49 CFR Part 369:

FMCSA would rescind the requirement for certain for-hire motor carriers of property to file the annual Form M concerning their revenues, profits and losses

49 CFR Part 393:

The FMCSA received a petition for rulemaking to amend its brake system requirements for commercial motor vehicles. The rulemaking would allow carriers to disconnect the brakes on the last axle of a truck tractor being transported as the 3rd unit in a saddlemount arrangement.

Complete Listings

If you would like to know more about the process by which FMCSA chose these regulations — or if you would like to read the full reasoning behind each regulation chosen — the DOT has issued complete documentation. If you would like to a free copy, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

FMCSA Tweaks Intervention Thresholds for Certain Carriers. Fewer carriers are subject to stringent hazardous materials intervention thresholds after recent changes to FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) safety measurement system. This week, FMCSA announced that only carriers that transport placardable quantities of hazardous materials are subject to CSA’s hazmat intervention thresholds. Previously, any carrier that indicated that it transported hazmat during registration was prioritized for intervention based on the stricter hazmat threshold.

With the recent changes, carriers that transport hazardous materials in amounts that do not require placarding are held to the general intervention thresholds of 65% and 80% instead of the hazmat thresholds of 60% and 75%.

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Editor: Roxanne Swidrak, Vice President, Operations • 1-800-253-5506 • www.FoleyServices.com • Vol. 111, No. 701 • © Foley Carrier Services, LLC. 2011