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[Federal Register: February 2, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 22)]
[Notices]
[Page 5098-5099]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02fe07-103] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration [Docket No. FMCSA-2007-27123] Hours of Service of Drivers: Quality Driveaway, Inc. Application for Exemption AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT. ACTION: Notice of application for exemption; request for comments. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: FMCSA announces that it has received from Quality Driveaway,
Inc. (Quality) an application for an exemption from the Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Regulations regarding maximum driving time for drivers
of passenger-carrying vehicles. The exemption would allow Quality
drivers delivering new buses without any passengers to be governed by
the hours-of-service (HOS) requirements for drivers of property-
carrying vehicles. Quality states that the level of safety will be
equivalent or greater than the level of safety that would be obtained
by complying with the HOS regulations for drivers of passenger-carrying
vehicles. FMCSA requests public comment on Quality's application for
exemption. DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 5, 2007. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT DMS Docket Number
FMCSA-2007-27123 using any of the following methods: - Web site: http://dmses.dot.gov/submit/. Follow the instructions for submitting comments on the DOT electronic docket site.
- Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
- Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, Room PL-401,
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
- Hand Delivery: Room PL-401 on the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
- Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and
docket number for this notice. Note that all comments received will be
posted without change to http://dms.dot.gov including any personal
information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading for further
information. Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to http://dms.dot.gov at any time or Room PL-401
on the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW.,
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays. The Docket Management System (DMS) is
available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. If you want us to
notify you that we received your comments, please include a self-
addressed, stamped envelope or postcard or print the acknowledgement
page that appears after submitting comments on-line. Privacy Act: Anyone may search the electronic form of all comments
received into any of DOT's dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or of the person signing the comment, if
submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, or other
entity). You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the
Federal Register published on April 11, [[Page 5099]] 2000 (65 FR 19477, Apr. 11, 2000). This statement is also available at
http://dms.dot.gov. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Thomas Yager, Chief, Driver and
Carrier Operations Division, Office of Bus and Truck Standards and
Operations, MC-PSD, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 400
Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001. Telephone: 202-366-
4009. E-mail: MCPSD@fmcsa.dot.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background Section 4007 of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century
(Pub. L. 105-178, 112 Stat. 107, June 9, 1998) amended 49 U.S.C. 31315
and 31136(e) to provide authority to grant exemptions from motor
carrier safety regulations. Under its regulations, FMCSA must publish a
notice of each exemption request in the Federal Register (49 CFR
381.315(a)). The Agency must provide the public an opportunity to
inspect the information relevant to the application, including the
conducting of any safety analyses. The Agency must also provide an
opportunity for public comment on the request. The Agency reviews the safety analyses and the public comments, and
determines whether granting the exemption would likely achieve a level
of safety equivalent to, or greater than, the level that would be
achieved by the current regulation (49 CFR 381.305). The decision of
the Agency must be published in the Federal Register (49 CFR
381.315(b)) with the reason for denying or, in the alternative, the
specific person or class of persons receiving the exemption, and the
regulatory provision or provisions from which exemption is granted. The
notice must also specify the effective period of the exemption (up to 2
years), and explain the terms and conditions of the exemption. The
exemption may be renewed (49 CFR 381.300(b)). Request for Exemption Quality Driveaway, Inc. (Quality) is a registered motor carrier
whose principal office is located in Goshen, Indiana. It provides
extensive transportation services to manufacturers of various types of
motor vehicles, including motor homes, tractors, trucks, and buses, and
has more than 750 drivers delivering vehicles in a driveaway-towaway
operation. A "driveaway-towaway operation" is defined in 49 CFR 390.5
as "an operation in which an empty or unladen motor vehicle with one
or more sets of wheels on the surface of the roadway is being
transported:
(1) Between vehicle manufacturer's facilities;
(2) Between a vehicle manufacturer and a dealership or purchaser;
(3) Between a dealership, or other entity selling or leasing the
vehicle, and a purchaser or lessee;
(4) To a motor carrier's terminal or repair facility for the repair
of disabling damage (as defined in Sec. 390.5) following a crash; or
(5) To a motor carrier's terminal or repair facility for repairs
associated with the failure of a vehicle component or system; or
(6) By means of a saddle-mount or tow-bar." Quality was recently awarded a contract to transport buses in a
driveaway-towaway operation from a manufacturing facility in Lafayette,
Georgia, to purchasers. Quality uses approximately 300 experienced
drivers to meet its contractual requirements. The Federal hours-of-service (HOS) regulations for commercial motor
vehicle (CMV) drivers in 49 CFR 395.5 apply to motor carriers and
drivers operating passenger-carrying vehicles. According to FMCSA's
regulatory guidance, a driver of a CMV "designed or used to transport
* * * passengers* * *" (49 CFR 390.5 definition of CMV) would be
considered to be passenger-carrying regardless of whether there were
actually any passengers in the vehicle. This prevents a requirement for
drivers to switch to the HOS rules for property-carrying vehicles each
time the bus becomes empty. However, this also means that drivers of
the empty buses Quality delivers (drives) from the manufacturer to the
dealer are always subject to the HOS rules for passenger vehicles. Quality states that, given the variety of vehicles it delivers, its
drivers are currently required to be familiar with HOS regulations
applicable to property and passenger-carrying vehicles. Not only is
compliance with these two sets of regulations difficult for the
drivers, it is also extremely complex for Quality to audit the drivers'
records of duty status (RODS) to ensure compliance because the
applicable regulatory standard could change on every trip. Quality submits that it does not make any "regulatory common
sense" to apply the passenger-carrying HOS rule when the new bus is
being delivered in a driveaway-towaway operation from a point of
manufacture to a dealer, because there are never any passengers on the
vehicle. Furthermore, unless the request for an exemption is granted,
Quality will continue to be confronted with having to comply with two
different sets of HOS regulations for a significant class of its
drivers, and also have to audit two different sets of RODS. Quality therefore requests that the "described class" of drivers
be granted an exemption from 49 CFR 395.5 when these drivers are
delivering new buses without passengers from a point of manufacture in
a driveaway-towaway operation. A copy of Quality's exemption
application is in the docket identified at the beginning of this
notice. Request for Comments In accordance with 49 U.S.C. 31315(b)(4) and 31136(e), FMCSA
requests public comment on Quality's application an exemption from 49
CFR 395.5. The Agency will consider all comments received by close of
business on March 5, 2007. Comments will be available for examination
in the docket at the location listed under the "ADDRESSES" section of
this notice. The Agency will file comments received after the comment
closing date in the public docket, and will consider them to the extent
practicable. In addition to late comments, FMCSA will also continue to
file, in the public docket, relevant information that becomes available
after the comment closing date. Interested persons should monitor the
public docket for new material. Issued on: January 26, 2007.
John H. Hill,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. E7-1750 Filed 2-1-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P
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