The more I hear and read about the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the closer the agency seems to resemble a typical American father—like myself. There are plenty of times my kids love me, like when I get outside and play on the swings with them, or take them bike-riding, or even help them with their homework. Then there are other times when they hate me because it was clearly my fault you threw the book at your brother and hit him in the head. Yes, not throwing books at your brother is a rule. Hey, I mean well.
I’ve come to believe that FMCSA, which is charged with reducing crashes, injuries and fatalities involving large trucks and buses (its children, if you will) means well. Does it have too many rules? Probably. Does it create as much confusion as it does clarity? Certainly. But like most fathers, myself included, sometimes doing what appears right for your children just leads to more confusion.
Here’s the pickle in which the agency finds itself. On April 2, FMCSA issued an imminent hazard out-of-service (IHOOS) order to DND International, a Naperville, IL-based carrier, demanding it shut down immediately, saying the company posed an imminent hazard to public safety. The agency based its decision on an investigation that began following a Jan. 27 crash involving a DND truck that killed an Illinois tollway worker and seriously injured an Illinois State Police trooper. The investigation found that the driver, who was charged with multiple felonies related to the accident, had operated the vehicle for a “period of 26 hours during Jan. 26-27,” and had “operated a tractor-trailer for about 1,000 mi., only resting between 31/2 to 51/2 hours—well short of the federally required rest period,” FMCSA said.
“I am happy that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration took swift action to take these trucks off the road. This type of strong and vigorous oversight must continue in order to make certain we are doing everything possible to prevent this kind of dangerous driving behavior,” Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) said.
That was on April 2. Fast-forward eight days and Durbin was singing a different tune. Following a report in the Chicago Tribune that FMCSA had ordered an investigation into DND back in August 2013 but didn’t begin that investigation until after the Jan. 27 crash, Durbin chastised the agency and called for an investigation into FMCSA by the Dept. of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General.
But that initial DND order only served to open additional wounds for FMCSA to lick. On April 16, a DOT administrative law judge, in a 65-page decision, overturned the DND out-of-service order, saying FMCSA denied the company due process because it did not complete an administrative review of its IHOOS order within 10 days as required by federal law and regulation. Going a step further, the judge also wrote that Field Administrator Darin Jones’ testimony, used to support the order, “contradicted most of the allegations” in the IHOOS order he signed, concluding that Jones failed to prove DND posed an imminent hazard to public safety.
As of this writing, FMCSA had appealed the judge’s ruling in the case.
Certainly, I do not have all the facts in this case, but what I can conclude is that FMCSA is in a no-win situation. There are those who want to see it be more proactive (Congress, for instance) in going after poor-performing carriers, hence the creation of CSA. Then there are those who say the agency is too aggressive in its approach and penalizes companies that are well run (see the aforementioned CSA).
If FMCSA takes too much time investigating, it opens itself up to criticism for not being proactive enough. If it acts too quickly in punishing its children without getting all its trailers in a row, a judge tosses its decisions.
Either way, it makes controlling my kids seem easy.
Brian Straight is Fleet Owner’ s managing editor. He can be reached at [email protected]. Join the conversation on Twitter @truckingtalk.
