Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration September 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

FMCSA requests public comment on the merits of a petition for rulemaking filed by the Truck Manufacturers Association. This trade association, whose members include all of the major North American manufacturers of medium and heavy-duty trucks, has petitioned FMCSA to amend the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations to eliminate turbochargers from the list of equipment considered to be noise dissipative devices. The Truck Manufacturers Association contends that virtually all trucks are now equipped with turbochargers. Hence, these trucks cannot be cited for failure to meet the visual exhaust system inspection requirements of FMCSA's safety regulations if they have no muffler.

FMCSA announces that it has published an opportunity to apply for FY2007 Border Enforcement Grant (BEG) funding on the grants.gov Web site. Section 4110 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy For Users established the BEG program. The program is a discretionary grant program that provides funding for border commercial motor vehicle (CMV) safety programs and related enforcement activities and projects. An entity or a State that shares a land border with another country is eligible to receive grant funding. To apply for funding, applicants must register online with the grants.gov Web site (https://www.grants.gov/applicants/get registered.jsp), and submit an application in accordance with instructions provided. Applications for grant funding must be submitted electronically to the FMCSA through the grants.gov Web site.

FMCSA requests public comment on an application for an exemption received from Kershaw Fruit & Cold Storage Co., Inc. and Kershaw Sunnyside Ranches, Inc. regarding the transportation of wooden fruit bins from fields to cold storage and packing facilities. These companies seek the exemption because they believe compliance with the general cargo securement requirements prevents them from using more efficient and effective cargo securement methods. Kershaw Fruit & Cold Storage Co., Inc. and Kershaw Sunnyside Ranches, Inc. believe the alternative cargo securement method that they have historically used would maintain a level of safety that is equivalent to the level of safety achieved without the exemption.

The FMCSA announces its decision to renew Werner Enterprises, Inc.'s (Werner) exemption from the Agency's requirement that drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) operating in interstate commerce prepare handwritten records of duty status (RODS). Werner has requested that its exemption be renewed so that it may continue its practice of monitoring the hours of service (HOS) of its drivers by means of GPS technology and complementary computer programs. Werner proposes in this application that the terms and conditions of the current exemption remain in place for a second two-year period. The FMCSA believes that with the terms and conditions in place, Werner will maintain a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety that would be obtained by complying with the requirement for a written RODS.