Government Roles in Transportation:
Policy and Regulations Impact on Motor Carrier Transportation Policies
Hua, Li
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Student
LGMT 636 Transportation Management
William (Bill) Christensen, Ph. D.
January 23, 2022
Companies who deal with transportation of goods in the United States are regulated by a wide array of laws and regulatory agencies. City, State, Federal transportation policy and regulations have been around since the creation of the country. Indeed, regulatory authority to regulate commerce in the United States was written into the U.S. Constitution. The constitution gave to congress the authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations, states, and the Indian tribes (U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 3). Even though motor Carriers have not been around since the nations founding, Congress has kept pace with changing times.
Historically, the government has impacted transportation through two key mechanisms: policy and regulation (Novack et al., 2019). As such Federal laws have continued to be passed, amended, rescinded or stricken down in courts for multiple modes of transportation.
Government Policy Goals have been able to accomplish advances for transportation systems that private companies couldn’t achieve on their own. (Novack et al. 2019). One example of policy is the 1956 Federal-Aid Highway Act authorizing 41,000 miles of new roadway (Senate, 1956). Construction was accomplished through funding and where necessary claiming land through the use of Eminent Domain (Weingroff, n.d.).
In terms of regulation, Congress has used its constitutional authority to create regulatory agencies to assist in setting requirements for interstate and international modes of transportation. (Novack et al., 2019). One example is the Federal Power Commission (FPC) which was tasked to oversee the Natural Gas Act of 1938 (Speight, 2019). This act was one of many historical examples of interstate commerce regulations to prevent monopolies in multiple modes of transportation (Speight, 2019).
For Motor Carriers, the first set of regulations appeared in the Intermodal Era via the Motor Carrier Act of 1935 (Novack et al., 2019). Motor Carriers were regulated by the interstate commerce commission (ICC). The ICC was abolished in 1995 during the new economic era but other regulations still impact Motor Carrier services (Novack et al., 2019).
On Public highways one set of regulation are the requirements is the 49 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) which are enforced by the Department of transportation and its subsidiary agencies such as the Federal Highway Administration (FMCSA, n.d.). When vehicles depart carrying hazardous materials there are specific requirements: HAZMAT training for the driver, vehicle placarding requirements, and adherence to explosives compatibility requirements (FMCSA, n.d.). When commercial truckers are transporting explosives, they must adhere to compatibility requirements without exception. This means additional vehicles, drivers, or trailers compartments will be required to make the same shipment to one customer if the selected explosives were not compatible in one container.
A regulation that offsets throughput with safety is the rest requirement on drivers. A driver must drive no longer than 11 consecutive hours in a day, not drive past the 14th hour of being ‘on duty’, take a 30-minute break every 8 hours and finish with 10 hours off duty before the next shift begins (FMCSA, n.d.). This means 10-11 hours are lost on the road with one vehicle. One way to maximize throughput is by having one truck operated in a team. One driver on and one driver off until one of the two drivers hits their 60/70 hours in a 7/8 day limit (FMCSA, 2015).
With the introduction of new technologies such as automations and internet of things to increase throughput or safety, regulations will continue to be signed into law as the new economic area continues.
WORKS CITED
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. (n.d.). How to Comply with Federal Hazardous Materials Regulations. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/hazardous-materials/how-comply-federal-hazardous-materials-regulations
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. (2015). Interstate Truck Driver’s Guide to Hours of Service. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Novack, R. A., Suzuki, Y., Gibson, B. J., Coyle, J. J. (2019). Transportation: A Global Supply Chain Perspective. Cengage
Speight, J. G. (2019). Natural Gas (2nd Edition). Gulf Professional Publishing.
United States Senate. (1956, June 26). Congress Approves the Federal-Aid Highway Act. United States Senate. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Federal_Highway_Act.htm
Weingroff, R. (n.d.). The Greatest Decade 1956_1966. Federal Highway Administration. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/50interstate.cfm.
U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 3.
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