News Digest DOT 10-14

FMCSA Finalizes Rule to Shut Down Carriers Based on Patterns of Safety Violations.  Next week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will publish a Patterns of Safety Violations Rule which implements the agency’s authority to shut down a bus or truck company if the company, or a company officer, has a history of purposely violating federal safety regulations.  The rule is one of the new enforcement tools that the agency has developed in recent years to target high-risk carriers that endanger travelers by avoiding or covering up their negative history of safety compliance.  FMCSA intends to apply the rule in egregious cases in which it finds that a motor carrier has committed a pattern of unsafe practices, even if that particular investigation alone does not result in a downgrade of the carrier’s safety fitness rating.  The new rule complements a rule adopted by the agency in 2012 to apply out-of-service orders to reincarnated or chameleon carriers and to consolidate their enforcement histories.  Today’s rule goes one step further by authorizing a complete revocation of the motor carrier’s authority to operate.  For a copy of the Federal Register announcement, see: www.FMCSA.DOT.gov.  Contact:  Marissa Padilla:  (202) 366-9999.