§397.5 Attendance
and Surveillance of Motor Vehicles
Question 1: What defines a "public
highway" or "shoulder" of a public highway for the purpose of
determining violations under §397.5(c)?
Guidance: The applicable engineering/highway design
plans.
Question 2: Must a driver of a motor
vehicle transporting HM, other than Division 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3 (Class A or B)
explosives, always maintain an unobstructed view and be within 100 feet of that
vehicle?
Guidance: No. If the vehicle is not located on a
public street or highway or on the shoulder of a public highway, then the
vehicle need not be within 100 feet of the driver's unobstructed view, unless
it contains Division 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3 (Class A or B) materials.
Question 3: May a motor carrier
consider fuel stop operators as "qualified representative(s)" for
purposes of the attendance and surveillance requirements of §397.5?
Guidance: Yes. However, the fuel stop operator must
be able to perform the required functions.
Question 4: Who determines what is a "safe
haven"?
Guidance: The selection of safe havens is a
decision of the "competent government authorities" having
jurisdiction over the area. The definition found in §397.5(d)(3)
is purposely void of any specific guidelines or criteria. A truck stop may be
considered a safe haven if it is so designated by local or State governmental
authorities.
Question 5: §397.5(d)(3)
describes a safe haven as "* * * an area specifically approved in writing
by local, State, or Federal governmental authorities for the parking of
unattended vehicles containing Division 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3 materials." Do
guidelines exist for establishing approval criteria for safe havens? Is there a
national list of approved safe havens available to the public?
Guidance: The FHWA believes the safe haven concept
is becoming increasingly obsolete due to readily available alternatives for
providing "attendance at all times" for vehicles laden with
explosives. The FHWA is aware of
two documents that may be used as resources for establishing approval criteria
for safe havens. The first document, Construction and Maintenance Procedure
Recommendations for Proposed Federal Guidelines of Safe Havens for Vehicles
Carrying Class A or Class B Explosives (1985), contains design, construction,
and maintenance guidelines. The second document, Recommended National Criteria
for the Establishment and Operation of Safe Havens (1990), contains recommended
national uniform criteria
for approval of safe havens and an inventory of all State-approved safe havens
in existence at the time of the report. These two documents may be used both as
resources for establishing guidelines for safe haven design and construction,
and as source documents for finding other materials that may be used toward the
same purpose. These two documents are available to the public through the U.S.
Department of Commerce, National Technical Information Service (NTIS),
Question 6: May video monitors be
used to satisfy the attendance requirements in §397.5?
Guidance: The purpose of the attendance requirement
is to ensure that motor vehicles containing hazardous materials are attended at
all times and that, in the event of an emergency involving the motor vehicle,
the attendant is able to respond immediately. The use of video monitors could
satisfy the attendance requirements in §397.5, provided the
monitors are operable and continuously manned, the attendant is within 30.48
meters (100 feet) of the parked vehicle with an unobstructed view, and the
attendant is able to go to the vehicle immediately from the monitoring location.