Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration February 5, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

FMCSA announces its decision to renew the exemptions from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for 11 individuals. FMCSA has statutory authority to exempt individuals from the vision requirement if the exemptions granted will not compromise safety. The Agency has concluded that granting these exemption renewals will provide a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety maintained without the exemptions for these commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.

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 its review and approval. The FMCSA requests OMB approval to revise and renew a currently-approved ICR entitled, ``Financial Responsibility, Trucking and Freight Forwarding,'' to reflect an increase in burden hours due to an increase in the estimated number of annual responses. In addition, the title of the ICR is being changed to ``Financial ResponsibilityMotor Carriers, Freight Forwarders and Brokers,'' to better describe its purpose. This ICR sets forth the financial responsibility documentation requirements for motor carriers (property and passenger), freight forwarders and property brokers so they can maintain the minimum levels of financial responsibility required under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to operate in interstate, foreign or intrastate commerce. On November 24, 2008, FMCSA published a Federal Register notice allowing for a 60-day comment period on the ICR. No comments were received.

On September 9, 2008 (73 FR 52451), October 17, 2008 (73 FR 61927), and October 31, 2008 (73 FR 65009), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published four notices of final disposition in the Federal Register with an inadvertent error in each. Those notices stated that the Agency did not receive comments in the proceedings. This document corrects that error, because it was brought to the Agency's attention that comments had been submitted. This correction does not affect the Agency's previous decision to renew the exemptions from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for the individuals specifically identified in the September 9, 2008, October 17, 2008 and October 31, 2008 final disposition notices.

FMCSA announces its decision to renew Volvo Trucks North America's (Volvo) exemption from the Agency's requirement that drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) possess a commercial driver's license (CDL) issued in the United States (U.S.). Volvo requested that its exemption for seven Swedish engineers and technicians be renewed to enable these individuals to continue test driving CMVs in the U.S. All seven individuals are employees of Volvo and each holds a valid Swedish CDL. FMCSA believes the knowledge and skills testing and training program that Swedish drivers must undergo for a Swedish CDL ensures a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety that would be obtained by complying with the U.S. requirements for a CDL.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requests public comment on an application for exemption from Turnpike Global Technologies LLC (Turnpike) to allow the placement of electronic on board data event recorders at the bottom of the windshields on commercial motor vehicles (CMV). The exemption would enable any motor carrier using Turnpike's RouteTracker electronic on-board data event recorders to mount the devices lower in the windshield than currently permitted by the Agency's regulations in order to maximize the ability of the device to collect safety and regulatory compliance data. Turnpike believes this mounting position would maintain a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety achieved without the exemption.