FMCSA is the acronym for The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Fleet managers are required to comply with the regulations put into place by the FMCSA. We take a closer look at FMCSA compliance with a view to assisting fleet managers in adhering to the required legislation.
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The Vision of the FMCSA
The vision of the FMCSA is to put a stop to people being killed or injured and prevent crashes related to buses and large trucks taking place. It is also their task to deliver safety oversight on Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMV). The FMCSA puts forward a strategic plan every five years. The current one runs from 2019 to 2023.
There are three key objectives that drive the work of the FMCSA. The first goal is to make it more difficult for operators and drivers to enter the industry without first meeting compliance standards. Secondly, to carry on working in the industry, these participants must continue to meet requirements. And finally, those who pose a risk to others on the road are to be banned from working in the industry.
FMCSA Initiatives
Over the years, FMCSA has been involved in numerous safety initiatives. Here are some examples.
With millions of drivers on the roads, FMCSA initiated the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (NRCME) program. This involved getting sufficient medical practitioners verified to conduct specific medical health checks on drivers. Close to 50,000 doctors were certified and, over a two-year period, over 10,000,000 drivers were examined. Fleet managers must make sure that all their drivers are regularly tested and have been passed to drive.
Enhanced Investigative Techniques (EIT) were taught to all field operatives, enabling them to determine and issue out-of-service (OOS) notices to multiple drivers and prevent carriers of dangerous fleets from operating. Fleet managers must ensure that all their vehicles are in peak condition before letting them out on the roads.
The FMCSA works closely with partners such as the Department of Transport (DOT) and law enforcement agencies to make the roads as safe as possible. Their safety officials do frequent patrols checking for carrier drivers under the influence and ensuring that cross-border trucks from Mexico coming into the United States are compliant. Fleet managers need to make sure their drivers are informed of the dangers of driving after consuming alcohol and to prevent inebriant drivers from going out onto the roads.
In combination with law enforcement partners, the FMCSA assessed transporters of crude oil from Bakken Oil Fields because of the huge increase in travel by this party. This involved checking drivers, vehicles, loads, and product sampling. Drivers were also educated on railroad grade crossing.
Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs)
One component of FMCSA compliance is the keeping of certain records. All drivers need to provide records of duty service (RODS) as per the federal hours-of-service (HOS) legal requirements. An electronic logging device (ELD) is an instrument that keeps track of these aspects digitally to alleviate the necessity of hand-written records and to guard against incomplete information. Follow this link to find out more about fmcsa approved eld devices. Fleet managers are responsible for company compliance with FMCSA’s ELD mandate.
A lot of technology is available nowadays to assist fleet managers with keeping proper control of their fleets and drivers.
