Analysis of FMCSA's Revised Civil Penalties (1995-2006)

Book excerpt: This final report updates the results of a July 2004 report that was prepared in response to Section 222(d) of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 (MCSIA). Section 222(d) of the Act required the Secretary of Transportation to conduct a study of the effectiveness of the revised civil penalties established in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) in ensuring prompt and sustained compliance with Federal motor carrier safety and commercial driver's license laws. The 2004 study focused primarily on the impact of the changes in the revised civil penalty schedule on the dollar amount of the fines assessed to the carrier and on the number of violations assessed. The primary objective of this followup report is to reevaluate the findings of the 2004 study, using a more comprehensive database that includes more years of data. The research was conducted by the Research and Innovative Technology Administration's (RITA's) John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (The Volpe Center) under a project plan agreement with the FMCSA.