Most drivers in Texas never fully recognize the impact of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) on their daily commutes.
However, this governmental organization plays a tremendous role in Texas’s thriving economy and roadway safety.
This agency is crucial in establishing standards that keep you safe and preventing trucking accidents in Texas.
Below, the Dallas personal injury attorneys from Wolf Law, PLLC, present a guide to what the FMCSA oversees, its definition, and its history.
FMCSA Defined
Part of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) was established as a result of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 (49 USC 113). Its duties and powers focus on safety as the highest priority for motor carriers utilized in a commercial capacity.
Currently, trucks used as commercial motor vehicles have transported $90.9 billion of transborder freight, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
The report shows that two of the three top US-Mexico truck ports operate in Texas, transporting $30.8 billion of transborder commodities annually.
The FMCSA was once part of the Federal Highway Administration.
It collaborates with other federal, state, and local government agencies, labor and safety interest groups, and the motor carrier industry. The organization also collaborates with international committees and organizations to disseminate information about the best safety practices in motor carrier safety.
What Is the Role of the FMCSA?
Since its beginning as a federal agency in 2000, the FMCSA has been critical in implementing safety standards for commercial motor vehicles.
Its role in developing safety standards focuses on the prevention of fatalities and injuries resulting from commercial motor vehicles. Its duties include developing, researching, testing, and enforcing these standards.
The FMCSA issues trucking companies’ operating authority and USDOT numbers. Identifying high-risk scenarios involving drivers and vehicles. They also fine-tune the standards and regulations to optimize safety by performing the following activities:
- Developing standards for testing and licensing commercial operators
- Creating drug and alcohol testing guidelines
- Providing relief by giving financial assistance for motor vehicle roadside inspections
- Creating cargo securement and hazardous materials transport standards
The FMCSA identifies high-risk carriers to prevent their operations and create a safer highway environment. These safety standards impact every commuter at some point, particularly those in Texas who have witnessed a significant increase in trucking traffic across the state.
What Entities Are Subject to FMCSA Regulations?
Standards and regulations are commercial-vehicle specific and do not apply to all commercial vehicles.
Trucking companies are responsible for knowing the rules and following the standards that apply to their fleet.
Carriers must also ensure drivers comply with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR) and Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR). Motor vehicles subject to these rules include:
- Vehicles with a weight rating or combined weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more
- Carriers designed or used in transporting eight or more passengers, driver included, for compensation
- Motor vehicles designed for transporting more than 15 passengers but not for compensation, including the driver
- Vehicles transporting hazardous materials
In addition, multiple federal, state, and local agency laws may apply depending on a vehicle’s cargo. Federal administrations strive for more uniformity and better clarity of multi-organizational regulations by working with these agencies.
The FMCSA Addresses a Questionable History of Safety
Truck drivers have always been an integral component in the trucking industry. As far back as 1938, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) regulated hours of service (HOS) for truck drivers. However, the FMCSA did not promulgate more recent safety guidelines addressing HOS until 2003, reflecting congressional directives.
The push for drivers to remain on the road to transport goods created a danger to drivers and other commuters sharing the road. Tired, distracted, overworked truck drivers gained protections through these regulations. Under HOS guidelines, regulations addressed the following:
- Maximum time on-duty
- Minimum time off-duty
- Total maximum driving hours
- The use of off-duty time to incorporate rest, including breaks and sleep
The primary intent for establishing a duty cycle for truck drivers is to prevent highway accidents.
Because of the size and use of most commercial trucks, semi-truck accidents in Texas may produce significant dangers and render highway traffic immobile when an accident involves a commercial truck.
How Does the FMCSA Enforce Safety Regulations?
As technology progresses, it becomes simpler to track and enforce safety regulations. The FMCSA uses various tools and methods of enforcement, including:
- Routine inspections
- DOT weighing stations
- Scheduled compliance reviews
- Complaint investigations
It is also the responsibility of the trucking business to ensure their trucks and drivers operate under FMCSA guidelines. Otherwise, they may suffer high fines and penalties. Companies rely on the following tools to comply with the guidelines:
- Fleet tracking technology
- Dash cams
- Routine vehicle inspections
- Training programs
- Employee reviews
- Internal investigations
When a crash involves a motor carrier vehicle, trucking companies must submit an accident register. FMCSA reportable crashes include those where the accident results in injuries, fatalities, or the need to tow a vehicle from the accident scene.
What Additional Programs Does the FMCSA Use to Monitor Trucking Companies?
The FMCSA utilizes the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program to gather safety data through a safety measurement system, ranking trucking companies to identify dangerous conditions and high risk.
The FMCSA uses the CSA program as a tool for the accountability of drivers and businesses. CSA impacts a driver’s safety performance and compliance and reflects on a driver’s safety record.
CSA also affects companies that hire unsafe drivers who have a negative entry on their carrier safety record. The FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System tracks a company’s data by collecting the following information:
- Safety violations and inspections against a company
- The severity of a violation or trucking accident
- How long ago the violation occurred
- The number of commercial motor vehicles in a company’s fleet and the distance they travel
- Investigations uncovering acute and critical violations
CSA data updates on a monthly basis. The data also includes crash reports from the previous two years.
Based on this information, the FMCSA may intervene in a trucking company’s operations when its performance ranking registers a higher percentage of violations.
How Does the FMCSA Organize Its Data?
The FMCSA organizes information according to the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) and using the following data:
- Unsafe driving: Actions such as not wearing a seatbelt, speeding, or improper lane changes
- Crash indicator: The history of crashes
- HOS compliance: Including logbook documentation
- Vehicle maintenance: Failure to make repairs to trucking systems or to identify and correct defects in systems such as braking and lighting
- Controlled substances: Violations, including use and possession of a substance or alcohol
- Hazardous materials compliance: Inspections revealing leaking containers, improperly packaged materials, or lack of placarding
- Driver fitness: A driver’s ability to meet safe medical standards to operate a truck or possession of an invalid commercial driver’s license
Over the decades, as the trucking industry has expanded, the FMCSA implemented newer data collection methods to effectively manage and institute safety standards based on the volume of trucks on the highways.
Can I File a Complaint With the FMCSA About a Company It Regulates?
Numerous situations may warrant a complaint against a truck driver or trucking company. The National Consumer Complaint Database (NCCDB) provides information about registering a complaint with the FMCSA. If you were injured in a trucking accident in Texas, a Dallas personal injury lawyer with experience in the trucking industry can assist with filing a complaint as part of your representation in a truck accident case.
Contact the Dallas truck accident lawyers at Wolf Law PLLC if you have sustained damages in a trucking accident in Dallas and need experienced, aggressive representation.