Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration March 6, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

FMCSA withdraws all prior regulatory guidance, previously in the Federal Register, as well as memoranda and letters issued by the Agency, indicating that surge brakes do not meet certain provisions of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). Elsewhere in today's issue of the Federal Register, FMCSA amends the FMCSRs to allow the use of automatic hydraulic inertia brake systems (surge brakes) on trailers when the ratios of gross vehicle weight ratings for the towing-vehicle and trailer are within certain limits.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FMCSA announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR) described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This information collection pertains to the requirements set forth in 49 CFR parts 391 and 398 for the following activities: (1) A medical examination form and certificate to be completed by a licensed medical examiner; (2) The submission of an application to FMCSA for the Agency to resolve conflicts of medical evaluations between medical examiners; (3) A driver qualification (DQ) file for: (a) Motor carriers to include the medical certificate; (b) motor carriers of migrant workers to include a doctor's certificate for every driver employed or used by them; and (c) motor carriers to include a Skill Performance Evaluation (SPE) certificate issued to a driver with a limb disability; and (4) Information collected from carriers, drivers and interested parties used in Agency determinations for granting exemptions from the vision and diabetes requirements in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). The Agency published a Federal Register notice allowing for a 60-day comment period on the ICR in October 2006 (71 FR 61822, Oct. 19, 2006). The Agency did not receive any comments in response to this notice.