Roadside Report Requirements - Signatures/Certified Copies/OOS Orders

1.) During a recent court trial, a driver, through defense counsel, fought a "violation of an out-of-service order charge" for again failing to have the required CDL after being placed out of service. Upon presenting the inspection report, pulled from Query Central, that was drafted by a Kentucky trooper, who had previously placed this driver out of service for not having the required CDL, the defense counsel objected to the admittance and claimed hearsay. The judge ultimately dismissed the charge because the inspection report was not a “certified copy” and the trooper was not present to testify on the merits of the inspection report. a.) Currently there is no policy, procedure or guidance on obtaining certified copies 2.) Reports pulled from query central do not have signatures 3.) many states no longer obtain signatures roadside. The question now is, did the driver know or should have known they were out of service? 4.) Carriers are not submitting signed reports back to the issuing agency acknowledging the OOS and that the violations have been corrected. 5.) There is no additional guidance or penalties for carriers failing or refusing to return a signed MCSAP report within the 15 days “acknowledging” the violations/ OOS order. 6.) Who is the true "keeper of records"? If agencies are no longer filing away reports and all reports are uploaded to an FMCSA platform.

This presents a significant problem when prosecuting these cases. Safety is and always will be the main objective. Removing drivers/ carriers, who pose a risk to the motoring public, from the roadway is important. These carriers/ drivers who disregard any OOS order and continue are only adding fuel to the fire. Here in NH, we have a state law that allows us to charge/ arrest drivers or carriers for violating any out of service order. However, the "need" is, we need a certified copy from the agency who created the OOS order, and it would seem reasonable that signatures should be obtained for the purposes of acknowledgement. If the driver is signing the report, they are acknowledging that they understand they are out of service.

1.) Establish a policy that requires a roadside signature from the driver/ carrier being placed out of service on any report that has any out of service violation. 2.) Establish a policy that guides agencies on how to provide certified copies of MCSAP roadside reports. a.) This guidance could simply be to "stamp" indicating "certified" on a copy of the report or establish a letter template for all agencies to use when sending the report to another agency. 4.) Establish a direct contact list to all agency leads for MCSAP only. Phone numbers on MCSAP reports are not always being answered or returned. 5.) Establishing a policy or procedure on how to properly document out of service orders. a.) Allowing more context in the out of service paragraph. for example, if the driver has multiple OOS violation listed on the report, we should be putting all the violations that need correction. Medical card/ CDL/ HOS-10 hrs oof duty. If the Inspector only puts medical card as the only reason the driver is out of service, then once they obtain the med card, they could technically drive and not be in violation of the "order" because the OOS verbiage only said "until obtains Med Card". b.) if it's a CDL requirement OOS, Clear photographs of the VIN decals on the combination, pictures of the CMV inspected and proof of weigh obtained. c.) Body camera footage retained. Should be used to highlight the acknowledgement that the driver knew or should have know they were out of service. 6.) Is FMCSA considered a keeper of records also? Could FMCSA establish a process for certifying MCSAP reports? a.) FMCSA should establish a platform that provides a level of certification on these MCSAP reports to eliminate the need to contact individual agencies. 7.) What do other states have for laws surrounding the violation of out of service orders? 8.) Do other states charge carriers/ drivers for this offense?