Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/748284
72 | Overdrive | November 2016 ReaRview L ess than 20 years after Congress passed the Mo- tor Carrier Act of 1980 to deregulate trucking, legislators passed a bill to establish a new federal agency tasked with regu- lating the industry. The Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1999 cre- ated the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Admin- istration under the U.S. Department of Trans- portation. Up to then, truck-related enforcement was handled by DOT's Federal Highway Admin- istration. Congress gave the new entity the reins to more thoroughly regulate trucking and public trans- portation companies, their equipment, their drivers and more. Quoted in the January 2000 Overdrive, then-U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater foreshad- owed the coming regula- tory activism, saying the new law will allow "the department and states to more effectively iden- tify problem drivers, take remedial action and get high-risk drivers off the road. It will enable us to ensure the safety fitness of newly formed motor carrier companies, levy strong sanctions on for- eign carriers who operate illegally … and impose stiff fines on violators." In its nearly 17- year history, FMCSA has reached deep into owner-operators' lives in ways small and large. It's warned truckers about the potential hazards of electronic cigarettes and pioneered complex initia- tives, including hours of service overhauls and the creation of the Compli- ance, Safety, Accountabil- ity program. Many other ambitious regulations are in various stages of FMCSA enact- ment: mandates for elec- tronic logging devices and speed limiters, mandatory sleep apnea screening and a database of truckers who have failed a drug test. 17 years of FMCSA oversight BY JAMES JAILLET Long before FMCSA's creation in 2001, Overdrive, since its founding in 1961, has been a watchdog of trucking regulation. One of its early targets was the antiquated Interstate Commerce Commission, noted in this ad from the Overdrive-sponsored Independent Truckers Association. The magazine's ral- lying of independent truckers against the ICC helped lead to the agency's demise in 1980. Anne Ferro, then FMCSA administra- tor, spoke with owner-operator Scott Grenerth during the Trucking Solutions Group's Driver Health Council walk-and-talk at the 2013 Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky. Part of the agency's challenge is to understand how its safety initiatives affect the costs and day-to-day operations of the industry. Overdrive's February 2012 issue covered the major hours of service over- haul, instituted in 2013. The rule sparked a pushback from Congress in 2014, muddying the future of hours regulation. Congress and FMCSA have yet to clear up the uncertainty or fully address the industry's complaints.