Identifying Disparity in Definitions of Heavy Trucks

This project aimed to identify ambiguities and disparities that exist in the regulations pertinent to heavy trucks and buses, and offers recommendations on how to improve clarity and cohesion of these regulations in the State of Montana. The goal is achieved by a logical set of two tasks. Task 1 involved the conduct of a trucker’s survey, in addition to a review of federal and state laws, to more effectively identify issues/questions pertaining to heavy truck/bus regulations. Various aspects of heavy truck/bus regulations were explored, namely, speed limit, roadside safety inspection, weigh station, commercial driver’s license, hours of service regulation, hazardous materials regulation, and vehicle maintenance standards. Task 2 resulted in a thorough review of the questions revealed in Task 1, the identification of the ambiguities and discrepancies that may exist in the regulations, and the development of recommendations on how to address them. These two tasks are summarized in Chapters 1 and 2 of this final report. This final report synthesizes the research process and presents the research results. The results (Chapter 3) are organized into three parts. The first part summarizes the changes that may be needed in the state’s administrative resources such as the Montana Trucker’s Handbook, Getting Started Guidebook, and Montana Commercial Driver’s License Manual. These changes address discrepancies that exist in these administrative resources and update outdated information to make it consistent with state laws. The second part summarizes the questions that may need to be discussed in future legislations. These questions reveal more complicated issues that would require adding new passages or modifying existing clauses in state laws (i.e., Montana Code Annotated [MCA] and Administrative Rules of Montana [ARM]). The third part consists of items that can be included in the educational booklet for drivers and motor carriers.

• Record URL:
  http://www.mdt.mt.gov/other/webdata/external/research/docs/research_proj/truck_definitions/TDD_FINAL_REPORT.pdf
• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/44083
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Cover date: January 2017.
• Corporate Authors:

  Western Transportation Institute

  Montana State University
  P.O. Box 174250
  Bozeman, MT  United States  59717-4250

  Montana Department of Transportation

  2701 Prospect Avenue
  P.O. Box 201001
  Helena, MT  United States  59620-1001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Wang, Yiyi
  • Clouser, Karalyn
  • Hossain, Fahmid
• Publication Date: 2017-2

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 124p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Buses; Driver licensing; Hazardous materials; Heavy duty trucks; Hours of labor; Inspection; Policy, legislation and regulation; Recommendations; Speed limits; Surveys; Truck drivers; Vehicle maintenance; Weigh stations
• Geographic Terms: Montana
• Subject Areas: Law; Motor Carriers; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01630034
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA/MT-17-004/8117-052
• Contract Numbers: 8117-052
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Feb 23 2017 12:02PM