FMCSA removing ‘duplicative’ requirement for traffic violation lists

Washington — Truck drivers who operate in interstate commerce no longer will be required to annually submit to their employer a list of their convictions for traffic violations.

In a final rule published in the March 9 Federal Register and set to go into effect May 9, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration asserts that the requirement “is largely duplicative of a separate rule that requires each motor carrier to make an annual inquiry to obtain the motor vehicle record for each driver it employs from every state in which the driver holds or has held a CMV operator’s license or permit in the past year.”

FMCSA initially proposed the change in December 2020. According to the rule, 71 of the 86 comments the agency received supported the proposal, including submissions from the American Trucking Associations, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and the Truckload Carriers Association.

More than half of the comments opposing the proposal included feedback related to safety concerns. However, “many of the commenters understandably confused the requirements [of the rescinded and existing provisions] because of their duplicative nature,” FMCSA states.

The agency emphasizes that the final rule doesn’t remove the annual requirement for a motor carrier to obtain a motor vehicle record. “Thus, employers still have a way to know the driving records of their drivers and a way to distinguish safe from unsafe drivers.”

The change is expected to save drivers and motor carriers an estimated $3.5 million annually, as drivers no longer will need to spend additional time completing lists that motor carriers need not file.