The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has submitted an Information Collection Request to the Office of Management and Budget seeking approval to conduct a study on truck and bus maintenance requirements and their impact on safety. 83 Fed. Reg. 60946 (November 27, 2018). The FMCSA notice states the goal of the study is to determine what improvements, ranging from better compliance interventions to better vehicle maintenance requirements, would enhance motor carrier safety. A 2014 study by the DOT’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center on the effectiveness of the FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System in identifying the highest risk motor carriers to be targeted for interventions found that motor carriers targeted for intervention due to “vehicle maintenance” issues (i.e., violations) had a 65 percent higher crash rate compared to the national average.
The study objectives are as follows:
1. Develop an operational definition of “Systematic Maintenance” as required in 49 CFR 396.3(a).
2. Evaluate whether current regulations and the intervention process could be modified to improve compliance with vehicle maintenance requirements. Examples of such requirements include:
- Preventative maintenance intervals
- Preventative maintenance inspections with adequately trained/equipped mechanics
- Adequacy of motor carriers’ maintenance facilities.
3. Gather information to assist in establishing minimum standards for inspection intervals, mechanic qualifications and training, and certification of maintenance facilities.
Originally Posted to the Idealease Safety Bulletin