In a letter to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Deputy Administrator Kathy Gautreaux dated Dec. 12, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has requested attention be paid to an “unnecessary administrative burden that is impacting both the enforcement community and the motor carrier industry,” partners that make up the alliance.
Namely, they’re referencing the current processing of inspection reports that happens after an inspection by law enforcement during which defects are found. As specified in Code of Federal Regulations 396.9(d)(3), motor carriers are required to certify issues noted in violations on the report have been completed and to return the report to the issuing jurisdiction, within 15 days. This happens today mostly on paper, CVSA notes, and represents an administrative burden that could be eased by allowance for an electronic process of repair/correction certification.
Many jurisdictions, too, CVSA says, ” do not have the manpower to follow up on unreturned inspection reports. For these jurisdictions, the practice of receiving returned inspection reports creates a paperwork burden with no clear value or purpose. Meanwhile, motor carriers spend time and resources certifying, returning and storing inspection reports that are not being used by many of the recipients.”
An electronic system for the process could make for one more useful to all, and could relieve some of the paperwork burden of the current system. “We believe that more jurisdictions would be able to use the information if it were more readily accessible through an electronic system,” CVSA says. “It is possible that there are models already in place for such a system – it is our understanding that the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) has built a system that may meet the needs of this program – and CVSA encourages the agency to reach out to the motor carrier industry for input on how best to structure such a system.”
