Mark Schremmer
When there’s an emergency, it’s truck drivers who often come to the rescue, delivering critical supplies and assistance to areas of need.
That’s why the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association supports the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposal to widen its emergency relief window back to 30 days.
In 2023, FMCSA published a final rule reducing the duration of automatic regulatory relief for an emergency from 30 days to 14. This past January, FMCSA proposed reverting to 30 days.
Groups like OOIDA and the National Propane Gas Association are all for it.
“We feel the 30-day period provides sufficient time to deliver emergency assistance without negatively impacting safety, and the initial rulemaking did not adequately justify restricting the emergency relief period,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer wrote in comments filed on Tuesday, March 10.
In fact, OOIDA and NPGA helped fuel the potential expansion of the relief window. Soon after FMCSA announced its rule in 2023, the two groups filed a joint petition for reconsideration.
“FMCSA has failed to provide sufficient evidence and explanation to support its conclusions and its departure from longstanding policy and intent,” NPGA and OOIDA wrote. “In addition, the final rule fails to resolve ambiguities relating to pre-disaster emergency declarations. As a result, compliance with various provisions of FMCSA’s final rule is not practicable, is unreasonable and is not in the public interest.”
A crucial factor is that there is no evidence that a wider relief window has deterred safety.
If you recall, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted FMCSA to issue emergency relief for more than two years. The agency was unaware of any increase in crashes related to the regulatory relief.
“The agency has always maintained that a 30-day emergency relief period does not negatively impact road safety,” OOIDA wrote. “During the previous rulemaking process, we also questioned why the agency was considering changes since they indicated that they lack specific data necessary to warrant altering the scope of (the regulation). As such, we are confident that amending the 2023 final rule will provide an equivalent or greater level of safety than the 14-day relief period. We believe that regulatory relief should ensure that any motor carrier providing direct assistance can continue doing so, given the unpredictable and volatile nature of emergency scenarios. This can best be accomplished by restoring the 30-day emergency relief window.”
The proposal to expand the window was also supported by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, the Montana Department of Transportation and several other industry trade groups.
