Watchdog says FMCSA penalties not tough enough

WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration does a good job of identifying unsafe truckers, but doesn’t crack down hard enough when it nabs them, says the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The top government watchdog south of the border says truck transportation regulators don’t often hand down stiff penalties to trucking firms with ‘serious violations’ on their safety record, despite a federal law that requires the FMCSA to levy “maximum fines” to truckers with two or more major violations, reports Bloomberg News.

The GAO report was quickly cited by opponents of the Bush Administration’s pilot project to allow 100 Mexican carriers to operate freely in the U.S.

The report noted that the government does a reasonably good job tracking problem trucking companies, but the FMCSA often doesn’t levy tough penalties until a third violation.

It suggested that fleets with even one “serious” safety or compliance violation should receive maximum fines.

— from Bloomberg