The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced through an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) that the Agency is seeking comment from the public, liability insurance providers, motor carriers, brokers and freight forwarders on the safety and financial impacts of revising minimum levels of financial responsibility.
The Federal Government has long required motor carriers to maintain certain levels of financial responsibility, either through insurance, a bond, or other financial security, as a means to protect the public in the event of a crash. An April 2014 Report to Congress found that while catastrophic motor carrier crashes are rare, the costs for resulting severe and critical injuries can exceed $1 million; current insurance limits do not adequately cover these costs, which are primarily due to increases in medical expenses and other crash-related costs.
To provide a basis for proposing changes to insurance rules and estimating those impacts in the future, the agency is seeking additional information on 26 questions. Whenever possible, commenters should provide data in support of their responses. FMCSA recognizes that an individual commenter may choose to respond to all of the issues or only a subset, based on his or her interest or area of expertise.
A copy of the ANPRM and instructions for submitting comments is available at https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/11/28/2014-28076/financial-responsibility-for-motor-carriers-freight-forwarders-and-brokers. Comments will accepted through February 26, 2015. For further information, contact Duane DeBruyne at 202-366-9999.
