FMCSA Explains Its Evaluation of Motor Carrier Operating Applications

October 16, 2012

In August 2012, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration officially published detailed public notice of the standards by which it decides whether to allow a commercial trucker or bus company to operate, or whether to restrict or take away that permission.

The FMCSA, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, is the federal agency with the mission to prevent injury and death related to large commercial vehicle travel. This mission includes the establishment and enforcement of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, in large part to prevent dangerous semi-truck accidents and commercial bus wrecks.

The FMCSRs are regulations issued by the FMCSA and other related federal agencies that regulate commercial trucks and other large motor carriers in safety matters like vehicle standards, equipment and maintenance; driver training, licensing and qualification; driver behavior like alcohol or drug consumption, distracted driving and adequate rest; and hours-of-service recordkeeping.

Another crucial part of the FMCSA mission is to control motor carriers' operating authority registration[/url]. In order to legally drive, a carrier must be granted registration permission by FMCSA to do business and FMCSA retains the authority to revoke, suspend or modify that registration depending on the carrier's "willingness and ability" to comply with safety laws and regulations, among other things.

When the agency considers restriction of previously granted registration, it considers whether the carrier showed "willful disregard" for safety requirements. Occasional or mistaken noncompliance is not usually enough for shutting down a trucking company.

If an applicant submits "false or misleading information," it will be denied permission to operate. Beyond that, the FMCSA looks at specific factors in deciding whether to grant or restrict registration privileges:
- Current and past safety violations
- Whether safety violations have caused accidents, fatalities or injuries
- Whether safety violations have been "willful"
- Current and past enforcement actions
- Whether the entity has the ability to comply with safety requirements
- Current and past corrective actions

Generally, the FMCSA will look at the past six years of an operator's record and will apply greater scrutiny if the carrier has taken certain more egregious actions like driving while not registered or after having been ordered to cease operations. In addition, mitigating factors will also be taken into account.

A Tennessee Example

An example of FMCSA revoking operational permission from an unsafe trucking operation is the recent shutdown of Tennessee trucking operation Terri's Farm. The company was found to be a reincarnation of another company, Three Angels Farms, that had been previously put out of service for repeated safety violations that had caused four horses in its transport to die. Essentially nothing but a new name for the old operation to get around the previous shutdown order, the new company used the same trucks (without record of sale from one company to the other), some even still kept at the old location, and the same management structure, as well as having some of the same owners, managers and employees.

Anyone in an accident with a large commercial motor carrier like a semi truck or bus should discuss it with an experienced personal injury attorney who can determine whether the entity was in good standing with the FMCSA, which would likely be important in a subsequent lawsuit.

Article provided by Kinnard Clayton & Beveridge
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