Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/204210
Logbook FMCSA increases fines The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration increased fines for certain violations and widened its authority to issue out of service orders. The steps are in compliance with the MAP-21 highway funding law finalized last year. The new regulations allow the agency to place a carrier out of service for operating vehicles "without or beyond the scope of registration," according to the regulation. Previously, only the unregistered vehicle itself could be placed out of service. Another change involves shortening the time in which new entrant carriers undergo a safety review from 18 months to 12 months. Other amendments include increasing the minimum required for broker bonds to $75,000 and extending the requirement to freight forwarders, and removing the "ability to pay" wording from the list of factors FMCSA takes into account when assessing civil penalties for violations relating to commercial motor vehicle safety regulations and operators. Language also has changed regarding employer knowledge of an unlicensed driver and driver traffic violations from "the employer knew" to "the employer knows or should reasonably know." The fines that were increased under the rule changes: • Violation of FMCSA's reporting, recordkeeping and registration requirements: Now $1,000 (from $500) for violating reporting and recordkeeping requirements, $10,000 (from $500) for nonpassenger carrier registration violations; • Transporting hazmat without appropriate registration: Now maximum $40,000 (from $20,000); Some of the new fines involve hazmat hauling. • Failing to obey a subpoena or an order to appear or testify: Now ranging $1,000 to $10,000 (from $100 to $5,000); • Operating after being declared out of service: $25,000 maximum (each day treated as a separate offense); • Operating a vehicle hauling hazmat after being placed out of service: $75,000 maximum (each day treated as a separate offense); if violation results in death, serious illness or severe injury of anyone or substantial destruction of property, maximum penalty moves to $175,000; and • Evading regulations; Knowing and willful violations: $2,000 to $5,000 for first-time offense, $2,500 to $7,000 for subsequent. – James Jaillet Agency withdraws rulemaking on driver training In light of feedback and new regulations, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is withdrawing its 2007 entry-level driver training rulemaking to pursue a new proposal. The agency said it considered comments submitted on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, feedback received during the public listening sessions last spring and its Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee's June report. FMCSA currently has two research projects under way to gather supporting information on the effectiveness of entry-level driver training. The 2012 highway reauthorization act had mandated the agency issue a final rule by Oct.1. It also stipulated training address knowledge and skills for operation, specific requirements for hazmat endorsements and a uniform federal standard for training. In 1991, after Congress directed the Federal Highway Administration to study the issue, FHWA published a three-volume study concluding "on-street hours" of training was necessary as a standard. FMCSA issued a training rule in 2004, but a federal appellate court returned it to the agency the following year because it lacked behind-the-wheel training. – Jill Dunn 14 | Overdrive | November 2013 Logbook_1113.indd 14 10/29/13 10:45 PM