FMCSA Removes Requirement that Truck Drivers Report Out-of-State Traffic Convictions

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Friday it has eliminated what it said is a redundant requirement that truck and bus drivers report out-of-state traffic convictions to the states where they are licensed.

Drivers have had to self-report such convictions since 1986, but since 1994 states have been required to electronically share that information, so the drivers’ self-reporting became redundant.

“Elimination of the regulation will not affect safety,” FMCSA said in a statement. “Today’s action maintains the electronic reporting requirements by states, but eliminates the redundant reporting by interstate truck and bus drivers.”

American Trucking Associations proposed eliminating the requirement in response to President Obama’s effort launched in January 2011 to purge unnecessary regulations from the books.

The requirement’s elimination will become effective May 28, the agency said in a Federal Register notice published Friday.

Click here to see the Federal Register notice, or click here for a PDF version.