The penalties for violating trucking safety regulations are about to go up again, but not by much. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Wednesday will publish the 2017 schedule, with an adjustment multiple of 1.01636, or about 0.16%, as set by the White House Office of Management and Budget.
For example, the penalty for violation of an out-of-service order by a driver will go from $1,782 to $1,811. The penalty to a carrier for requiring or permitting a driver to operate a commercial vehicle when the driver was placed out of service will rise from $17,816 to $18,107. The changes are to take effect 10 days from publication.
FMCSA is updating the schedule “to ensure that the civil penalties assessed or enforced by the Agency reflect the statutorily mandated ranges as adjusted for inflation,” the notice states. The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 calls for the annual adjustment, following the initial “catch-up” changes, set in June 2016. The new amounts will not apply to ongoing enforcement cases, FMCSA adds.
The pre-publication notice, including the complete table of violations and penalties is available here. The formal notice will be published in the Federal Register, and the Part 386 penalty schedule is available in the Code of Federal Regulations.
