The American Trucking Associations has released a 31-page document outlining issues it would like to see considered during the reauthorization of federal surface transportation legislation, covering everything from highway safety to labor issues to truck user fees.

The Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 expires at the end of fiscal year 2003, which ends in September 2003. By the spring of 2003, debate over reauthorization of transportation programs is expected to be in high gear.
Some of the more controversial issues in the document deal with truck drivers. For instance, ATA will urge government officials to keep the exemption for truck drivers to the overtime pay law, as has been pushed by some safety advocates. ATA notes that while truck drivers are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime pay law, they are not exempt from the FLSA's minimum wage law. "There is simply no need for Congress to apply the overtime pay law to drivers," says ATA's document. "The minimum wage provision and the hours of service rules ensure reasonable compensation and working conditions."
Addressing another controversial issue, ATA wants to prevent the DOT from issuing regulations on entry-level driver training. Calling the record of today's truck drivers "second to none," the association says federal regulations and the commercial driver's license program already require truck drivers to know how to safely operate their vehicles. In addition, it says, different motor carriers and very differing vocations know better what specific training their drivers need. Instead of entry-level training standards, ATA would like to see incentive programs designed to increase and promote the use of industry-based driver training programs.
ATA would like to see more emphasis placed on human factors, rather than just equipment. "The overwhelming majority of traffic accidents are caused by human error. Yet the majority of federal research and regulatory effort is focused on vehicles and equipment, with far less effort spent on human factor issues."
In the area of equipment regulations, ATA believes too much emphasis is placed on new-truck equipment regulations, with not enough emphasis is placed on reliability and maintenance issues.
"As equipment and subsystems become more technologically complex, and truck manufacturers move to limit the ability of commercial fleets to specify which particular components to install in a vehicle, equipment reliability is rapidly becoming an overwhelming concern for carriers," the ATA says.
In addition, the group says, the rules for in-service commercial vehicle equipment essentially require that equipment remain in the exact same condition as the day it was purchased. ATA would like to see the FMCSA to develop realistic in-service equipment standards that give practical guidance on the expected condition of equipment throughout its lifecycle for safe operation, which allow for fair wear-and-tear, and do not attempt to hold carriers to the standards imposed on manufacturers of new equipment.
Another equipment issue on the ATA's agenda is the maintenance of intermodal chassis. Ocean and rail companies typically own these chassis, but often don't keep them maintained. But once a chassis is loaded with a container and out on the highway behind a truck tractor, it's the trucker that is penalized for maintenance failures totally out of his control.
The association says it opposes any new truck user fees or increases in current fees, as well as tolls on the Interstate Highway System. It supports the continued dedication of federal highway user fee revenues for transportation purposes and opposes the further use of these funds for non-highway projects.
Other issues the ATA would like to see addressed are:

• a shortage of truck parking in many areas;

• the smooth flow of commercial traffic at the nation's borders;

• keeping hours-of-service exemptions such as those for adverse driving conditions, 100 air-mile radius drivers, oilfield operations and agricultural operations;

• opposing mandated on-board recorders ("black boxes");

• increasing the resources available for motor carrier safety enforcement;

• reforming the Carrier Safety Rating and SafeStat procedures so that accidents that are not a trucker's fault don't adversely affect a carrier's safety rating;

• educating the public on sharing the road with trucks;

• letting states allow the expanded operation of longer and heavier trucks on their highways; and

• encouraging the development of "electronic credentialing" systems.

Related story: FMCSA Hits Road To Reauthorization," 7/30/2001.