ATA Asks DOT to Revise Outdated Regulations

This story appears in the April 11 print edition of Transport Topics.

American Trucking Associations, joined by suppliers and other transportation groups, advised the Department of Transportation to revise or get rid of a wide range of regulations that they said are unclear, outdated or onerous.

ATA’s nine requests ranged from changing identification markings on bulk containers to eliminating an expired rule, still on the books, that gives New York state grape transporters an exemption from driver hours-of-service limits.

“The trucking industry understands the need for sensible regulations, particularly when it comes to safety,” ATA President Bill Graves said. “We must constantly review those regulations to make sure they continue to make sense.”

Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems said it wants a review of trailer safety-monitoring systems, while the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association targeted federal drug-testing rules for revision.

The submissions to DOT since April 1 responded to a Jan. 18 invitation from President Obama to tell federal agencies which of their rules needed a fresh review.

In addition to the grape transporters’ exemption, which expired in 2009, and the requirement to put United Nations identification numbers on containers with residue, ATA in an April 4 statement spotlighted three other rules that it said need attention.

They included a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requirement for drivers to tell employers about traffic convictions that also are reported through commercial license information systems.

Another rule bars trucks from having oil and gas leaks, a rule that is impossible to comply with and redundant because of other maintenance requirements, ATA said.

ATA also wants revision of special federal hazardous materials permit applications that currently require “unnecessary and burdensome information.”

The other four rules ATA mentioned were hazardous materials incident reporting, drug and alcohol testing rules for carriers with more than 2,000 covered workers, duplicative equipment inspection rules and outmoded liquid fuel tank standards.

Bendix, in its April 1 filing, fo-cused on clarity in trailer rules, saying portions of a DOT plan to require anti-lock braking systems were subject to misinterpretation.

Bendix also said enhanced trailer-monitoring systems were needed because of potential vehicle size and weight increases.

OOIDA proposed that drivers with five consecutive tests in which no drugs were found should be eliminated from the pool of drivers who are tested. That change would focus the federal requirement to test 50% of drivers annually on those more likely to use drugs, OOIDA’s filing said.

Other groups, such as the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, focused on improving the regulatory review process, offering suggestions such as reducing the paperwork needed when state agencies want to amend their transportation plans.

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association focused on the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program and proposed hours-of-service rules changes.

The group that represents highway construction companies said the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program would drive up its members’ costs, and ARTBA sought an exemption from hours-of-service rules for drivers making deliveries to construction sites.

The Association of American Railroads wants changes such as the elimination of required locomotive inspections by employees, less-stringent brake test and signal inspection rules and a fresh look at Occupational Health and Safety Administration rules on diesel exhaust. It said the brake test and signal inspection rules could be relaxed because of increased equipment reliability and new technology.

The OSHA rules “created confusion and, in some cases, set an impossible standard for railroads to meet,” the trade group said in a statement.