Potential Applicability of Financial Responsibility Requirements to Private Motor Carriers

This report presents the results of a study to assist the United States Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration assess the potential benefits and costs of implementing provisions of Section 4120 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) regarding private motor carrier public liability insurance. These provisions would require private passenger and property carriers to have financial responsibility in the same amounts as are currently required by sections 31138 and 31139 of the United States Code. The work performed for the study involved conducting a literature review, collecting data, and developing a plan to interview and collect data and information from state agencies and stakeholders. All information obtained was examined and fed into safety and economic models to determine the benefits and costs that could be expected from implementation of the new private motor carrier financial responsibility requirements. The primary benefit associated with the expanded insurance requirements examined in this study stems from avoiding the high costs of crashes involving unsafe private carriers that would find it difficult or impossible to obtain public liability coverage at the new, higher levels. Estimated costs for insurance and reporting exceed estimated benefits in 26 of the 27 scenarios considered in this study, indicating that extending the current minimum financial responsibility requirements for for-hire motor carriers to private motor carriers is not cost-beneficial under the assumptions used. However, the financial responsibility requirements examined within this study may be justifiable given equity considerations.

• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/53
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Cover date: March 2006.
• Corporate Authors:

  Battelle Memorial Institute

  505 King Avenue
  Columbus, OH  United States  43201

  Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

  Office of Research and Analysis
  400 Virginia Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20024
• Authors:
  • Lepofsky, Mark
  • Balducci, Patrick
  • Greenberg, Arthur
  • Ahmed, Aftab
  • Kall, David
  • McSweeney, Thomas
  • Rizek, Jodi
  • Wik, Erik
  • Murray, Daniel
  • Hershey, David
  • Keppler, Steve
  • Bomgardner, Paul
• Publication Date: 2007-3

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 87p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Commercial vehicles; Costs; Data collection; Financial responsibility; Liability insurance; Literature reviews; Motor carriers; Private carriers; Stakeholders
• Identifier Terms: Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Motor Carriers; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01522366
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FMCSA-PSV-07-001
• Contract Numbers: GS-23F-8167H/ORDER 1406-04-06-DO-60197
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Apr 22 2014 3:04PM