Safety Fitness Procedure; Safety Ratings

Summary: On May 28, 1997, the FHWA published a notice of proposed rulemaking in response to a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia. In the rulemaking the FHWA proposed to incorporate a modified Safety Fitness Rating methodology, which would be used to measure the safety fitness of motor carriers against the safety fitness standard, as an appendix to its Safety Fitness Procedures regulations. On February 7, 1997, the FHWA received data from the ATA Litigation Center on behalf of the American Trucking Association (ATA). The comments concerned the sampling methodology used by the FHWA in conducting compliance reviews, which the ATA believes to be biased. Subsequently, on May 29, 1997, the ATA asked that these comments be placed in the docket for consideration in this rulemaking. The comments are being placed in Docket No. MC-94-22; FHWA-97-2252 and will be considered in this rulemaking.