Steve Talkington Consulting, Inc. - Petition for Rulemaking

We request a change to Part 391.23 by reducing one aspect of paperwork that is a problem for every motor carrier in the country. The money savings alone would be astronomical and reduce the burden of the motor carrier in their daily operations. The system currently in place is outdated, obsolete and redundant. The hiring motor carrier must send an inquiry to each of the former employers where the driver was employed for the proceeding three years. The items that need to be collected from prior employers are •General Driver information •The data elements of FMCSA reportable crashes •Any minor crash data the previous employer would like to offer. •There must be clear instruction and a method for the previous employer on where to send the information to. This is an antiquated practice to obtain information that can be obtained so easily elsewhere. General driver information can be obtained from the driver, crashes can be obtained from the driver’s MVR or PSP. Most of the time a new employer must research the former employer by looking the former employers up on the internet and locating a number, or through the FMCSA Safer website, and many time those numbers are not correct any longer. Sometimes searching for the phone number reveals the former company’s name and location. Many time the driver must be contacted to verify which Acme Trucking they worked for. Once a form of transmission is established to the former employer, the new company must send them the required questions. Once the former employer receives the inquiry if they do not see a driver’s release for the information, they will contact the new employer and ask for a signed release. The best as can be determined a signed release is not required any longer since it is no longer required to ask drug and alcohol testing questions. Many of the larger companies are untouchable, in that there is not a phone number to the correct HR office because they are so large. Many companies use paid services, like TenStreet, The Work Number, or DriversReach. The hiring motor carrier must follow their rules, have their app or an account for their service, AND PAY a fee. Pay $5.99 to $10.00 for information that is required by the FMCSA to obtain. The hiring motor carrier should not have to pay a fee to a company to give the FMCSA information. The average inquiry takes about 15 minutes to research, prepare and send off, if all goes well and the phone numbers are accurate and the correct company can be located. On the former employers end it takes 10 minutes to respond. Ninety percent of for-hire CMV drivers have an average of three jobs in three years There are as many as 10. The private motor carriers do not have the turnover rate that for-hire carriers do, but they do require many former employer inquiries too. We no longer need to obtain drug and alcohol testing information from the former employer if we use the Clearinghouse, so all that is left is Driver information and crashes. The regulations state that if the new employer does not receive a response back after good faith efforts they need to report them via a web site pursuant to Part 386.12. That in and of itself takes ten minutes. There is conflicting guidance that states “Question 1: When a motor carrier receives a request for driver information from another motor carrier about a former or current driver, is it required to supply the requested information? Guidance: Generally, no. See §382.405, however, for requests pertaining to drug and alcohol records.” Summary: •Eliminate the requirements in 391.23(a)(2) and 391.23(c). •391.23(a)(2) and 391.23(c) are not a safety issue. •Information is present by other means making this redundant and duplicity of work for hiring motor carriers. •Hiring motor carriers do not need this information for safe operation of the fleet by drivers. •Information can be obtained from the driver and the driver’s driving record. •The process wastes valuable man hours that employers must pay. •There is an additional monetary impact if the inquiries are mailed or an employer uses a paid service. •It would be a great way for FMCSA to reduce paperwork for the motor carriers. It is currently a duplicated systematic process. •Millions of dollars and thousands of trees can be saved by FMCSA by doing away with this regulation. •Dozens of companies charge thousands if not millions of dollars to perform this simple task and some of these companies make the inquiring prospective carrier pay for their service or jump through many hoops to obtain the information. We, Steve Talkington Consulting, INC, on behalf of my customers and all companies that are required to complete these driver history inquiries, ask that the FMCSA look at and eliminate this unnecessary paperwork.