Recently, I wrote about the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s five-year strategic plan to reduce trucking accidents with a holistic regulatory approach that focuses on safety from “warehouse to boardroom.” FMCSA’s plan calls for it to regulate not just truckers but also shippers, brokers, and receivers.
As a truck accident attorney, I am in favor of a comprehensive approach, which includes shippers, brokers, carriers, trucks, cars, and the public. I am experienced in handling cases involving shipper and broker liability. The 2011 annual update of my West Publication Litigating Truck Accident Cases focuses on an update of shipper and broker liability, along with exemplar briefs.
A number of industry representatives responded unenthusiastically during the public comments period; they don’t want FMCSA regulating them. Those filing such comments included the National Retail Federation, National Association of Manufacturers, Transportation Intermediaries Association, Nasstrac, and the Health & Personal Care Logistics Conference.
What About Cars?
The American Trucking Associations likes the idea of FMCSA focusing on non-trucking players in the “transportation life cycle” It also wants the agency to focus on the role of passenger cars in trucking accidents — a point made similarly by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.
Meanwhile, among the 40-plus written comments filed, some were from individual truckers who praised the plan … while the nonprofit group Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety’s called for specifics.
