WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx Thursday said the
Office of Management and Budget had cleared the proposed rulemaking
to eliminate what most drivers consider a burdensome daily paperwork
requirement. This will reduce costs to the industry by an estimated
$1.7 billion annually while still maintaining the department’s high
safety standards.
The proposed rulemaking would eliminate the necessity for drivers to
complete and motor carriers to retain paperwork when a pre- and/or
post-trip inspection reveals no defects or deficiencies. The
proposed rulemaking does not eliminate the requirement for the pre-
and post-trip inspection.
Currently, drivers must complete a form whether or not defects or
deficiencies are found.
The proposed rulemaking, which is part of President Barack Obama’s
paperwork reduction initiative launched in January 2011 by executive
order, has been underway since January 2012.
The proposed rulemaking will now be published in the Federal
Register, initiating a 60-day comment period.
“President Obama challenged his administration to find ways to cut
waste and red tape, a challenge I pledged to meet during my
confirmation hearing,” Foxx said during a news conference, his first
formal meeting with reporters since becoming secretary. “With
today’s proposal, we are delivering on that pledge, saving business
billions of dollars while maintaining our commitment to safety. It’s
the kind of win-win solution that I hope our department will
continue to find over the coming months.”
Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell
called the proposal an example of progress made under the
administration’s regulatory lookback initiative.
“The administration is carefully examining rules on the books to see
where we can streamline, modify or repeal regulations to reduce
unnecessary burdens and costs on businesses and consumers,” Burwell
said. “By making this common-sense change to the DVIR process, the
Department of Transportation is dramatically reducing paperwork
burdens on the trucking industry, while continuing to protect public
safety.”
The Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIRs) that drivers complete
after each inspection are the 19th-highest paperwork burden based on
the number of hours needed to comply, imposed across all federal
agencies and only 5 percent of reports filed include defects.
Monday’s announcement represents the largest paperwork reduction
achieved since Obama’s May 2012 Executive Order to reduce regulatory
burdens on the private sector, the DOT said in a news release.
“We can better focus on the 5 percent of problematic truck
inspection reports by eliminating the 95 percent that report the
status quo,” said Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Anne S.
Ferro. “Moving to a defect-only reporting system would reduce a
significant paperwork burden facing truck drivers and save the
industry billions without compromising safety.”
Federal regulations require that every commercial vehicle in the
U.S. undergo a thorough annual safety inspection conducted by a
certified commercial vehicle mechanic. In addition, state and
federal inspectors conduct unannounced, random inspections of
commercial vehicles at terminals, weigh stations, truck stops along
the roadside and at destinations. Vehicles that fail random safety
inspections are immediately placed out of service and not allowed to
operate until the identified safety problems are addressed. In 2012,
approximately 3.5 million random inspections were conducted.
In June 2012, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
eliminated a comparable requirement for truck drivers operating
intermodal equipment trailers used for transporting containerized
cargo shipments. By eliminating a requirement for drivers to submit
“no defect” inspection reports of intermodal equipment trailer, cost
savings to the intermodal industry is estimated to be $54 million
annually without an adverse impact upon safety.
The FMCSA will collect and review comments on the proposed rule,
which is available at:
www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/administration/rulemakings/proposed/Driver-Vehicle-Inspection-Report
NPRM.pdf.
Source:
The Trucker newspaper
