Self-monitoring for HOS compliance proposal opposed by ATA

The American Trucking Assns. (ATA) has sharply criticized the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) proposal to tighten self-monitoring procedures to ensure carriers’ and owner-operators’ compliance to hours of service (HOS) and records of duty (ROD) status.

FMCSA’s supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking was issued in the Federal Register on Nov. 3 [RIN 2126-AA76].

ATA said the proposed rule is “major and expansive” and would add significant record keeping burden and costs on motor carriers.

FMCSA proposed a supporting document-based self-monitoring system that would serve as the primary means to ensure HOS and ROD compliance. ATA stated that the proposal is too vague in outlining the procedure.

“The proposal does not define “supporting documents”…but rather ambiguously provides examples of many possible supporting documents and states this is not an all inclusive list,” stated ATA. “The proposal has not clearly defined the compliance responsibilities of a motor carrier. As a result, the proposal is inconsistent with the statutory requirements, and leaves motor carriers to out guess FMCSA on what records must actually be kept.”

For the full text of ATA’s response, click here.