NTSB Recommendation Letter addresses various safety concerns.
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Press Release Summary:
Spanning H-09-32 to H-09-41, letter to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration included points on "Driver Fatigue Video" updates/redistribution, 49 Code of Federal Regulations Part 376 revision, and authority to deny/revoke operating licenses. Other issues addressed evasion detection algorithm, passenger carrier lease agreement reviews, development of Web-based database of FMVSS-compliant passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles, and physical inspection standards for the same.
Original Press Release:
NTSB Safety Recommendations H-09-32 through -41
The NTSB makes the following recommendations to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration:
Update and redistribute your "Driver Fatigue Video" to include current information on fatigue and fatigue countermeasures and make the video available electronically. Implement a plan to regularly update and redistribute the video. (H-09-32)
Revise 49 Code of Federal Regulations Part 376 to require that passenger motor carriers are subject to the same limitations on the leasing of equipment as interstate for-hire motor carriers of cargo. (H-09-33)
Seek statutory authority to deny or revoke operating authority for commercial interstate motor carriers found to have applications for operating authority in which the applicant failed to disclose any prior operating relationship with another motor carrier, operating as another motor carrier, or being previously assigned a U.S. Department of Transportation number. (H-09-34)
Apply the evasion detection algorithm process against all interstate passenger carriers that obtained Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration operating authority, after the New Entrant Safety Assurance Program began in 2003 but before the program began vetting those carriers, to verify that those new entrant carriers do not have a concealed history of poor safety management controls because they were able to reenter interstate commerce undetected as reincarnated carriers. (H-09-35)
Establish a requirement to review all passenger carrier lease agreements during new entrant safety audits and compliance reviews to identify and take action against carriers that have lease agreements that result in a loss of operational control by the certificate holder. (H-09-36)
Assist the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in developing a Web-based database of FMVSS-compliant passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles that can be utilized by federal, state, and local enforcement inspection personnel to identify non-FMVSS-compliant passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles so that these vehicles (other than exempted vehicles) are placed out of service and cease operating in the United States. Implement a process to periodically update this database. (H-09-37)
Require that federal and state inspectors utilize the database requested in Safety Recommendation H-09-37 during both roadside and compliance review inspections of passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles to identify and place out of service non-FMVSS-compliant vehicles. (H-09-38)
Institute a requirement for federal and state enforcement officials to obtain training on a procedure to physically inspect passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles for an FMVSS compliance label, and work with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance to develop and provide this training. (H-09-39)
Require that passenger motor carriers certify on their OP-1(P) forms (Application for Motor Passenger Carrier Authority) and initial MCS-150 form (Motor Carrier Identification Report [Application for USDOT Number]) and subsequent required biennial submissions that all vehicles operated, owned, or leased per trip or per term met the FMVSSs in effect at the time of manufacture. (H-09-40)
Seek statutory authority to suspend, revoke, or withdraw a motor carrier's operating authority upon discovering the carrier is operating any non-FMVSS-compliant passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicles, a violation of the FMVSS-compliant certification requested in Safety Recommendation H-09-40. (H-09-41)
The NTSB reiterates Safety Recommendation H-07-3 and both reiterates and reclassifies Safety Recommendation H-99-6 to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration:
To protect the traveling public until completion of the Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 Initiative, immediately issue an Interim Rule to include all Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations in the current compliance review process so that all violations of regulations are reflected in the calculation of a carrier's final rating. (H-07-3)
Change the safety fitness rating methodology so that adverse vehicle or driver performance-based data alone are sufficient to result in an overall unsatisfactory rating for a carrier. (H-99-6)
http://ntsb.gov/recs/letters/2009/H09_32_41.pdf
The complete recommendation letter is available on the Web at the URL indicated above.
The letter is in the Portable Document Format (PDF) and can be read using the Acrobat Reader 5.0 or later from Adobe (http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html).
An archive of recommendation letters is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/letters/letters.htm.
