WASHINGTON - The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has quietly stepped up its program to get uninsured motorcoach operators off U.S. highways.
The initiative was revealed by FMCSA Deputy Administrator Warren E. Hoemann late last month in a communication to the United Motorcoach Association.
"The FMCSA has listened to the motorcoach industry about carriers operating without insurance," Hoemann reported to UMA President and CEO Victor Parra. "That is contrary to law and the public interest, and is unfair to responsible carriers.
"So, we began revamping our process for revocation of insurance. We aren't done yet but the results speak loudly," Hoemann added.
In the past, it took the FMCSA an average of 87 days to revoke a carrier's operating authority from the time the carrier lost its insurance. For 57 of those days, a carrier's operating authority was active despite the absence of insurance.
Two major factors contributed to the delay. First, the pace of administrative processing was slow. Second, federal and state enforcement personnel often did not know a carrier's insurance had been revoked.
· As of early last month, the FMCSA had chopped 21 days off the process.
Now, the procedure takes 66 days overall, and the carrier's operating authority is active for 36 days absent insurance.
· This month, Hoemann says the FMCSA "will cut another 30 days off the insurance revocation process - a reduction of 51 days from just a couple months ago.
"The new 36-day process will allow a carrier to hold operating authority without insurance for only six days," asserts Hoemann. "The revocation letters will be tied into our enforcement program so that personnel in the field can watch the carrier's operations."
That's not the end of the story, says Hoemann. More changes are coming.
"The FMCSA will cross-match insurance revocations with inspection and crash databases, generating automated claim letters for field enforcement action.
"Where a carrier shows inspection or crash activity during the time its insurance is suspended, FMCSA will know the carrier is operating without authority and enforcement action will be swift. These matches will be done electronically, supplementing field observations of carrier operations."
The United Motorcoach Association, the American Bus Association, this newspaper and others in the coach industry have strongly advocated that the FMCSA crack down on bus companies operating without insurance.
"This great news and represents great progress by the FMCSA," said Parra.
During the past two years, there have been a number of fatal crashes involving buses that were not insured. For example, in September a tractor-trailer plowed into a cutaway bus near Chicago, killing 8 and injuring another 15. While the bus wasn't at fault in the crash, it nevertheless wasn't properly insured and should not have been operating.
Such operators frequently are able to undercut rates charged by responsible operators because they aren't paying any or all insurance costs. And when they crash, everyone loses.