Responding to President Obama’s call to help reduce the regulatory burden on U.S. businesses, the American Trucking Associations on Monday, April 4, highlighted nine outdated, obsolete or onerous rules that the U.S. Department of Transportation should reconsider. In comments filed April 1, ATA pointed to a number of rules issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration as unnecessary or redundant. For example:
• An FMCSA requirement for drivers to notify their employer of nonparking-related traffic convictions, a requirement that is made moot by the proliferation of databases like the Commercial Driver License Information System;
• The now-expired exemption from hours-of-service rules for grape transporters in New York that should be removed by FMCSA;
• The FMCSA requirement for motor carriers to ensure all vehicles be free of oil and gas leaks, a requirement that is impossible for carriers to comply with and is redundant because of other maintenance rules;
• A PHMSA rule requiring United Nations’ identification numbers on bulk containers holding residue from hazardous materials; and
• PHMSA requirements for fleets to provide unnecessary and burdensome information when applying for a special permit to haul certain materials.
“The trucking industry understands the need for sensible regulations, particularly when it comes to safety,” says Bill Graves, ATA president and chief executive officer. “However, as this list demonstrates, we must constantly review those regulations to make sure they continue to make sense.”
