The interstate trucking industry is subject to a great deal of regulation by the DOT by way of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations contains the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (“FMCSR”) which apply to all employers, employees and commercial motor vehicles transporting property or passengers in interstate commerce. Individual states are given the primary authority for enforcing the standards set forth in the FMCSR’s through the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (“MCSAP”). Ohio participates in the MCSAP and has chosen to simply adopt the substantive portions of the FMCSR’s as its own rules.
Key Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration websites include the following:
- www.safersys.org – Information on all trucking companies registered with the Department of Transportation, e.g., types of authority, number of trucks, insurance coverage, number of accidents in the last two years and safety rating.
- www.fmcsa.dot.gov – Information on government regulations, inspection of trucks, moving and equipment violations, etc. for individual trucking companies.
- www.ntis.gov – National Technical Information Service, National Transportation Safety Board investigates, reports and makes recommendations on issues arising out of major truck crashes. Its reports from 1970 to the present are available at this site.
- www.nhtsa.gov – National Highway Traffic Safety Administration compiles statistics on motor vehicle accidents, sets standards for truck design and manufacture and the use of our nations’ highways and investigates alleged defects in trucks.