U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater announced a new hotline for commercial vehicle drivers to report actual or potential violations of federal motor carrier safety violations.
The toll-free line, (888) DOT-SAFT, (368-7238) will put drivers in contact with the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Motor Carriers. In addition, the safety violation report form is available on the Internet at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/omc/forms.htm.
Jim Johnson, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assn., welcomed the number. “Too often, enforcement efforts simply target drivers, when someone else is the cause of an unsafe situation,” he says. “The hotline will help to identify those parties that deserve government scrutiny.”
Drivers are protected by law against being discharged, disciplined or discriminated against for reporting violations.