You asked several questions regarding the issue of truck safety including the federal and state safety requirements that apply, how often trucks are inspected and what types of inspections are done, what types of violations are most common, what penalties or other sanctions are applied for unsafe operations, and any other information pertinent to an understanding of the subject of motor carrier safety.

SUMMARY

Federal statutes and regulations form the basis of most of the safety standards applicable to commercial motor vehicles. The federal law applies to certain vehicles engaged in interstate commerce. Some requirements, such as driver licensing standards, drug and alcohol testing, and minimum levels of financial responsibility apply to some vehicles engaged in intrastate commerce as well. Federal safety requirements cover many motor carrier operations and include minimum financial responsibility, driver fitness and qualifications, vehicle operating practices, parts and equipment, and carrier fitness. Vehicles or drivers can be ordered out-of-service for certain violations that could lead to imminent hazard to the public. Federal law also prescribes a range of civil and criminal penalties for safety violations.

Under federal law, motor carriers also must be evaluated and rated in one of three fitness categories. Carriers receiving conditional safety ratings, and the trucks they operate, are likely to get more extensive and more frequent roadside inspections than those with satisfactory ratings. An unsatisfactory safety rating that is not corrected within a specified time period can result in a ban operations and civil penalties.

State law adopts the federal regulatory standards as state requirements. Safety requirements can be enforced by state and municipal police officers and Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) inspectors if they receive special training in enforcing the federal safety standards. First violations of the safety standards are cited as infractions with a $ 92 penalty for general violations and a $ 136 penalty if the violation led to an out-of-service condition. A civil penalty that is commensurate with the amount designated in federal regulations for a comparable violation may be assessed for a second or subsequent violation of safety standards. Other additional requirements and higher penalties apply to certain situations involving hazardous chemicals transportation.

Connecticut has two separate safety inspection programs. The state police run one that involves enforcement of both safety regulations and state maximum weight laws. DMV runs the other, which is aimed primarily at implementing federal safety objectives. While citations for violations are also written by the DMV inspectors, the program focuses more on vehicle inspections and carrier compliance through terminal reviews and compliance checks. Safety inspections are random roadside inspections, although carriers known to have a history of prior safety violations may be selected for inspection more frequently than those that have no such history. Approximately 40% of inspections are conducted during off-peak travel periods.

The DMV inspectors function as federal inspection agents when dealing with vehicles in interstate commerce. They are state enforcement agents when inspecting intrastate vehicles. Besides conducting the roadside safety inspections, DMV inspectors engage in a number of other activities including out-of-service compliance verification, carrier compliance reviews, new entrant safety audits, an inspection repair audit program, and joint traffic enforcement operations with the state police.

Most types of intrastate property carriers have been exempt from most state regulation since 1995 when Congress preempted state regulation of rates, routes, and service. Part of this preempted authority required intrastate carriers to receive specific operating authority in order to be in business. While this may limit the power of the safety inspectors to act directly against a carrier’s operation, another law allows suspension of individual vehicle registrations if equipment violations show they are unfit for highway operation.

Table 1 summarizes safety inspection and violation data for the Department of Motor Vehicle’s Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program for the last two reporting years.

Table 1: Summary of Safety Inspection and Violation Data—Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program

THE SAFETY REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

Federal Versus State Authority

Historically, motor carriers were regulated at both the federal and state levels, although in different ways. Federal law required carriers operating on an interstate basis get federal operating authority from the Interstate Commerce Commission and they were required to register this authority with states. Carriers operating on solely an intrastate basis were required to get state authority to operate in the form of a certificate of operation. However, states lost their ability to exercise most types of regulation of intrastate motor carriers of property, except for household goods carriers, in 1995 when Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act (P. L. 104-88). This law preempted states from enforcing laws, regulations, or rules related to the rates, routes, or service of a property carrier. But the preemption did not extend to a state’s authority to: (1) regulate safety, (2) impose route controls or limitations based on a vehicle’s size and weight or the hazardous nature of its cargo, or (3) regulate minimum amounts of financial responsibility relating to insurance requirements or self-insurance authority.

The federal preemption meant that states no longer could control carriers by issuing operating certificates and registering carriers operating under interstate authority. Because it did not preempt the state’s safety regulatory authority, the state could still control state-based and state-registered motor vehicles through more general statutes allowing the DMV commissioner to suspend registrations when he deemed vehicles unfit for operation on a public highway. Thus, the primary sanction the state has is against the vehicles and drivers a carrier employs and not against the carrier itself. Specifically, this means that specific drivers and vehicles can be taken out of service and fines levied for safety violations, but that enforcement action against a carrier’s right to operate must be taken at the federal level.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations

The federal motor carrier safety regulations form the basis of most of the safety standards that apply to motor carriers. Federal law gives the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration responsibility for prescribing safety regulations for any vehicles engaging in interstate commerce that (1) have gross vehicle weight ratings of more than 10,000 pounds; (2) are designed or used to transport more than eight passengers, including the driver, for compensation; (3) are designed or used to transport more than 15 passengers, including the driver and are not used to transport passengers for compensation; or (4) transport hazardous materials in quantities requiring special placards under federal law. The regulations must ensure that: vehicles are maintained, equipped, loaded, and operated safely; responsibilities imposed on drivers do not impair their ability to drive safely; drivers’ physical conditions allow them to drive safely; and driving commercial vehicles does not have a deleterious effect on a driver’s physical condition (49 U. S. C. § 31136). A limited number of federal regulations, primarily those covering driver licensing standards, substance testing, and minimum liability coverages also apply to some vehicles engaged in intrastate commerce.

Other federal laws establish uniform licensing standards states must implement in determining applicants’ qualifications to receive commercial drivers’ licenses, an employer-based drug and alcohol testing program for drivers and other safety sensitive personnel such as mechanics, and standards for disqualifying drivers for positive drug or alcohol tests or repeat serious traffic violations (49 U. S. C. §§ 31301-31311). The license standards apply to drivers engaged in interstate commerce or in trade, traffic, or transportation anywhere in the United States that affects interstate commerce. While this does not expressly include all intrastate commerce, it broadens the regulatory scope sufficiently to include many intrastate operations. The substance testing requirements apply explicitly to both interstate and intrastate operators.

The safety regulations cover a wide range of motor carrier functions including minimum financial responsibility, general safety requirements, driver qualifications and fitness criteria, alcohol and drug testing for drivers, vehicle operations and prohibited practices, parts and equipment, driver hours of service, criteria for declaring vehicles and drivers out-of-service, carrier inspection and maintenance requirements, carrier fitness procedures, and driver licensing standards. The out-of-service regulations are particularly important to enforcement in that a vehicle or driver declared out-of-service cannot resume operation until the violation is corrected. Since time delays can sometimes be more important to a carrier than tickets, the possibility of being declared out-of-service for several hours or longer can be uneconomic.

Mechanical condition or loading that is likely to cause an accident or the vehicle’s breakdown can result in an out-of-service order. Inspectors can allow a vehicle found to be in unsafe condition to be driven to the nearest place where repairs can be made safely, but only if this would be less hazardous to the public than allowing it to remain on the highway. Drivers can be declared out-of-service if they exceed their maximum hours of operation or fail to maintain duty status records as required (49 CFR § 395. 13, 396. 9). Some additional special safety regulations apply to carriers transporting hazardous materials.

Motor Carrier Safety Fitness Ratings

One of the primary objectives of the federal safety regulatory scheme is motor carrier safety fitness ratings. Federal law requires all carriers subject to federal authority to get a safety fitness rating. There are three possible fitness ratings: satisfactory, conditional, or unsatisfactory. The rating is determined by the carrier’s relative level of compliance with the safety fitness standard. To meet the standard the carrier must demonstrate that it has adequate safety management controls, which function effectively to ensure acceptable compliance with safety requirements and reduce the risk associated with: (1) driver license standard violations; (2) inadequate levels of financial responsibility; (3) using unqualified drivers; (4) improperly using or driving vehicles; (5) operating unsafe vehicles; (6) not maintaining accident registers and reports; (7) using fatigued drivers; (8) having inadequate vehicle inspection, repair, and maintenance; (9) violating hazardous materials transportation regulations; and (10) being involved in accidents and hazardous materials incidents.

The federal inspectors consider several factors when determining safety fitness and assigning a rating including the: (1) adequacy of safety management controls (above or below the norm for similar carriers, as evidenced by the number of violations, accidents or incidents compared to similar carriers); (2) general frequency and severity of regulatory violations and vehicle and driver violations identified in roadside inspections; (3) number and frequency of out-of-service violations; (4) increase or decrease in regulatory violations discovered during safety or compliance reviews (on-site assessments and records examinations conducted at the carrier’s terminal or other facility); (5) frequency of accidents, hazardous materials incidents, accident rate per million miles, preventable accident rate per million miles, and other accident indicators, and whether these indicators have improved or deteriorated over time; and (6) number and severity of violations of compatible state safety rules, regulations, standards, and orders.

A satisfactory rating means that the carrier has adequate safety management controls to meet the safety fitness standard. A conditional rating means that the carrier does not have adequate safety management controls in place to ensure compliance with the standard and safety risks listed in the standard could result. An unsatisfactory rating means that adequate controls are not in place and occurrences listed in the standard have taken place.

A carrier receiving an unsatisfactory rating has 60 days to take the necessary actions to improve the rating to conditional or better, or 45 days if it is transporting hazardous materials requiring special placards or transporting more than 15 passengers. If the carrier fails to upgrade its rating within the required period, it is prohibited from conducting transportation operations and is ineligible for any federal government contracts for engaging in these activities. It is also subject to civil and possibly criminal sanctions (49 CFR § 385).

Federal Sanctions

Federal inspectors do not write tickets for individual violations of the safety requirements. Instead, the federal Motor Carrier Safety Act provides for a range of civil and criminal penalties based a history of violations or failure to rectify prior violations determined by the FMCSA Office of Truck and Bus Standards and Operations to be cause to impose sanctions on the carrier or driver. Other actions, such as injunctive relief obtained in federal court are also available.

Civil penalties for record keeping violations can be up to $ 550 per day, up to a maximum of $ 5,500. For a serious pattern of safety violations other than record keeping violations, there are civil penalties of up to $ 2,750 for drivers and up to $ 11,000 for carriers. Special penalties apply for violating out-of-service orders. Table 2 shows the penalties that may be imposed under federal regulations for the various types of safety violations. Penalties for activities relating to other than safety-related matters exist but are excluded from the table.

Table 2: Federal Penalties for Violating Various Motor Carrier Safety Regulations

Criminal penalties can also be applied against a carrier or employee operating a commercial motor vehicle who knowingly and willfully violates safety regulations. Employers can be fined up to $ 25,000 and imprisoned for up to one year, or both. Employees can be fined up to $ 2,500 if their activities while driving a vehicle led or could have led to serious injury or death (49 U. S. C. § 521).

STATE REQUIREMENTS

Laws and Regulations

Connecticut’s laws and regulations on commercial vehicle safety are designed to dovetail with the federal requirements. Generally, state laws on lighting, markings, and other equipment on commercial vehicles follow federal motor vehicle safety standards and the commercial vehicle regulations. In 1994, the DMV commissioner was empowered to incorporate the federal commercial vehicle safety standards into state regulation by reference, in effect making the federal standards the state safety regulations (CGS § 14-163c). This law also allowed the commissioner to apply the safety regulations to vehicles with weight ratings over 18,000 pounds engaged in intrastate commerce. (Interstate vehicles are subject to the requirements down to 10,000 pounds gross weight rating. )

Provided they have met the training standards established by the DMV commissioner in consultation with the Department of Public Safety, state police, municipal police, and DMV inspectors are empowered to: (1) inspect vehicles for regulatory compliance, (2) enter a motor carrier’s place of business to inspect records, (3) declare vehicles and drivers out-of-service, and (4) write infraction complaints for violations. The commissioner can grant variations or exemptions from compliance, or approve equivalent or alternate compliance with federal standards when he determines that strict compliance entails practical difficulty, unnecessary hardship, or would otherwise be adjudged unwarranted. Such determinations must, in his opinion, secure the public safety.

First violations of the safety standards are infractions for which the violator must pay a total of $ 92 for a general violation or $ 136 if it resulted in an out-of-service order. For a second or any subsequent violation, the motor vehicle commissioner may impose a civil penalty on the violator. The civil penalty imposed may not exceed the amount specified in federal regulations for a comparable violation, or $ 10,000, whichever is less. Anyone assessed a civil penalty under these provisions has the right to request an administrative hearing. If the violator fails to comply with the terms of a final decision and order of the commissioner in this regard, the commissioner may suspend any motor vehicle registration issued to him as well as his privilege to register any other vehicle until he complies (CGS Sec. 14-163c(e)).

A separate law governs the storage and transportation of hazardous chemicals. Department of Public Safety regulations adopt by reference the federal hazardous materials waybill, labeling, placarding, packaging and other standards, including those of the National Fire Protection Association, and apply them as state regulations. Violations falling under these regulations can result in penalties of up to $ 500 for a first offense and $ 1,000 to $ 2,000 and imprisonment for up to six months, or both, for each subsequent offense. Violations resulting in death or injury can result in up to a $ 10,000 fine and imprisonment for up to 10 years (CGS § 29-337, 341).

State Safety Inspection Programs

The state has two programs for inspecting commercial motor vehicles. The state police operate one and DMV operates the other. They have different objectives and operate independently, except for occasional combined operations.

State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement. The State Police program is strictly a law enforcement operation. The squads include police officers and civilian employees who specialize in enforcing commercial vehicle size, weight, and safety requirements. The inspection units enforce all of the federal commercial vehicle safety standards, but also weigh vehicles for compliance with the state’s maximum vehicle and axle weight laws. The program’s purpose is to achieve compliance through strict enforcement. Violators are issued citations and can be ordered out-of-service, or off-loaded, if overweight. The state police inspection units write the majority of citations for violations that result in court adjudications.

Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program. The other safety inspection program is the DMV’s commercial vehicle safety unit, which participates in the federally-sponsored Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP). MCSAP was established by federal law for the purpose of reducing the number and severity of accidents and hazardous materials incidents involving commercial vehicles by substantially increasing the level and effectiveness of enforcement and the likelihood that safety defects, driver deficiencies, and unsafe carrier practices would be detected and corrected (49 CFR § 350. 7).

Participating states receive grants to help pay for inspection activities. The DMV was declared the lead state agency for MCSAP and the program is conducted by DMV inspectors. The aim of the MCSAP inspectors is to

implement the objectives of the federal safety regulations, including the carrier compliance and rating programs. Their emphasis is on inspection, detection, and compliance. But MCSAP inspectors write tickets when necessary, usually for serious brake, tire, or steering system defects.

MCSAP inspectors act as federal agents when inspecting interstate commercial vehicles and state agents when inspecting intrastate vehicles. As agents of the federal inspection program, they conduct roadside inspections and terminal audits aimed at determining a carrier’s fitness rating. They conduct the same activities for vehicles over 18,000 pounds engaged in intrastate commerce. Some intrastate carriers could conceivably fall under federal authority because their intrastate activities are in furtherance of interstate commerce. For example, a carrier transporting fuel oil from the shipping terminals in New Haven to points in Connecticut might be considered subject to the federal safety requirements because its intrastate activities are the endpoint of an interstate shipment of oil products.

Carriers operating under federal authority are generally distinguished by the U. S. Department of Transportation identification numbers they must display as evidence of their operating authority. Intrastate carriers subject to the safety regulations must display their federal number followed by a “CT” designation.

Safety Inspection Levels

The inspection methodology used on motor carriers is known as the North American Standard Inspection. It consists of various levels of inspection of the vehicle, driver, or both. The inspection criteria were developed by FMCSA in conjunction with the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Alliance, an association of states, Canadian provinces, and Mexico. Alliance members agree to adopt the standards for inspection commercial motor vehicles. Safety inspections conducted by the state police commercial vehicle inspection units that meet these standards are included with the MCSAP inspection data reported to the FMCSA.

There are six inspection levels as summarized below.

Level 1 Inspection—This is the basic, and most thorough of the inspection protocols. It requires inspection of both driver and vehicle. Driver inspection items include license, medical certificate, alcohol and drugs, driver record of duty status, hours of service, seat belt, and vehicle inspection report. Vehicle inspection items include brake system; coupling devices; exhaust system; frame; fuel system; turn signals; brake, tail and head lamps; lamps on projecting loads; safe loading; steering mechanism; suspension; tires; van and open-top trailer bodies; wheels and rims; windshield wipers; emergency exits (buses); and, as applicable, hazardous materials requirements. A Level 1 safety inspection includes physically getting under the vehicle to inspect it.

Level 2 Inspection—This is a walk-around driver and vehicle inspection. The Level 2 inspection includes the same driver and vehicle inspection items as a Level 1 inspection, but only to the extent that these items can be inspected without physically getting under the vehicle.

Level 3 Inspection—This is a driver-only inspection. It includes the Level 1 driver-related inspection items and, as applicable, any driver-related hazardous materials items.

Level 4 Inspection—This is a special inspection category that typically includes one-time examination of a particular item. They are normally made in support of a study or to verify or refute a suspected trend. They are the least frequent type of general safety inspection.

Level 5 Inspection—This is a vehicle-only inspection that includes the Level 1 vehicle inspection items without the driver present, conducted at any location. These inspections are usually done at terminal lots and do not include checks of driver information.

Level 6 Inspection—This is a special inspection that applies to certain types of shipments of radiological materials. It applies enhancements to the Level 1 inspection procedures, special radiological materials requirements, and special out-of-service criteria applicable for transuranic waste and highway route controlled shipments of radioactive material. (Transuranic waste is the type of radioactive waste created from the processing of nuclear materials. )

Connecticut Inspection Activities

For the period from April 1 2003 through March 31, 2004, DMV reported to FMCSA conducting a total of 19,310 safety inspections. Of these, 49. 83% were conducted at fixed locations, mainly the state truck weighing and inspection facilities and the rest were conducted at the roadside. Local police conducted 103 additional inspections that qualify under MCSAP. Of the 19,310 inspections DMV reported, 7,741 (40. 09%) were conducted during off-peak travel periods. Approximately 35% were Level 1 inspections (complete driver and vehicle inspection), 42% Level 2 inspections (driver and vehicle walk-around), and 19% Level 3 inspections (driver only). The remaining 4% were Level 5 (terminal) inspections except for one Level 4 inspection of a bus. The large majority of inspections (87%) involved trucks carrying non-hazardous materials. Another 8. 1% involved inspections of trucks carrying hazardous materials (Hazmat). The remainder (4. 9%) were buses. Approximately 90. 5% of the inspections were interstate carriers and 9. 5% intrastate carriers.

For the period from April 1, 2004 through March 31 2005, DMV reported a total of 15,997 safety inspections with an additional 133 conducted by local authorities. Of the 15,997 state inspections, 6,495 (40. 6%) were conducted at the fixed site weighing and inspection facilities and the rest were done at the roadside. A total of 6,102 inspections (38. 14%) were conducted during off-peak periods. Approximately 39% of the inspections were Level 1, 39. 5% were Level 2, 19% were Level 3, and 4% were Level 5. There was one Level 4 truck inspection. Vehicles carrying non-hazardous materials comprised 87. 6% of the inspections conducted; 7. 8% of the inspections involved vehicles carrying hazardous materials, and 4. 6% were buses. Approximately 90. 7% of the inspections were done on interstate carriers and 9. 3% on intrastate carriers.

A detailed breakdown of the inspections conducted in the last two full years is shown in Table 3 below. No Level 6 inspections (radioactive materials shipments) were conducted in either year.

Table 3: Motor Carrier Safety Inspections

Other DMV Activities Under MCSAP

The DMV inspectors assigned to MCSAP perform several other activities beside roadside inspections including out-of-service (OOS) compliance verification, compliance reviews, new entrant safety audits, an inspection repair audit program (IRAP), and traffic enforcement.

When DMV issues out-of-service orders, the affected carrier must verify that the required repairs have been made to eliminate the defects. During the period from April 1, 2003 through March 31, 2004, DMV inspectors ordered 5,838 vehicles and 3,289 drivers out-of service for safety violations. Of the OOS vehicles, 1,327 (14. 5%) were repaired at the scene or towed or escorted off the highway to be repaired. DMV reported that verification of repairs took place for 22. 7% of OOS vehicles. For the period from April 1, 2004 through March 31, 2005, there were 4,469 OOS vehicles and 2,366 OOS drivers. Of the OOS vehicles, 835 (12. 2%) were repaired at the scene or towed or escorted to a repair facility. Repair verification took place for 18. 7% of OOS vehicles.

One DMV inspector has historically been assigned full-time to conduct carrier compliance reviews, although other activities, such as initiation of the new entrant safety audits required under MCSAP, has made it necessary for DMV to divert the inspector from compliance auditing at certain times. Compliance reviews that meet FMCSA’s threshold criteria for enforcement action are forwarded to its regional office for disposition. For the period from April 1, 2003 through March 31, 2004, DMV conducted 26 compliance reviews that included 11 hazardous materials carriers and two passenger carriers. Of the 26 reviews, five enforcement cases were prepared and submitted to FMCSA. For the period from April 1, 2004 through March 31, 2005, DMV performed 23 compliance reviews, including two hazardous materials carriers. Of the 23 reviews, 15 were referred to FMCSA for possible enforcement action.

DMV performed 91 new entrant safety audits from April 1, 2003 through March 31, 2004. In January 2005, two new positions were filled for the new entrant program. This allowed the inspector assigned to compliance reviews to return to that duty before the end of the April 1, 2004 through March 31, 2005 reporting period. During that period, 218 new entrant safety audits were performed, 95 of which were done by the two new inspectors in the last three months of the period.

The objectives of the IRAP program are to ensure that previous violations discovered through roadside inspections have been corrected and to follow up on carriers not returning certifications of repair. From April 1, 2003 through March 31, 2004, DMV reported 380 carrier contacts through the IRAP program. DMV issued 39 infractions for apparent deliberate non-compliance by carriers. For the period from April 1, 2004 through March 31, 2005, DMV reported 293 carrier contacts and wrote a total of 52 infractions for apparent deliberate non-compliance.

DMV inspectors conduct weekly joint traffic enforcement operations with the state police, focusing on known high-accident corridors. One corridor receiving particular attention by these operations was I-95 in Fairfield and New Haven Counties.

DMV has been unable to implement its intrastate carrier compliance review program to date. Implementation has been hampered by issues relating to the federal carrier rating system with respect to equitable treatment of interstate and intrastate carriers. DMV reports its only currently available enforcement option is to issue infractions for violations committed by intrastate carriers.

Numbers and Types of Safety Violations

As a result of the 19,310 inspections conducted from April 1, 2003 through March 31, 2004, state inspectors found and cited carriers for a total of 86,925 safety violations involving trucks and 2,350 involving buses. Of the truck-related safety violations, 24,484 (28. 2%) were driver-related violations, 61,104 (70. 3%) were vehicle-related, and 1,337 (1. 5%)

related to violations of requirements for transporting hazardous materials. Of the bus-related violations, 415 (17. 7%) were driver-related and 1,935 (82. 3%) were vehicle-related.

The 15,997 state safety inspections conducted from April 1, 2004 through March 31, 2005 resulted in a total of 72,458 violations for trucks and 2,058 for buses. Of the truck-related violations, 21,583 (29. 8%) were driver-related, 49,894 (68. 9%) were truck-related, and 981 (1. 4%) related to hazardous materials regulations. For the buses, 264 violations (12. 8%) were driver-related and 1,794 (87. 2%) were vehicle-related.

Approximately 15% of the truck driver-related violations found in the 2003-2004 reporting period resulted in the driver being ordered out-of-service. Almost 21% of the truck-related violations and 15% of the hazardous materials violations resulted in out-of-service orders being issued. For buses, 8% of the driver-related violations and 8. 5% of the vehicle-related violations resulted in out-of-service orders. The ratios of out-of-service violations for the 2004-2005 reporting period were in a similar range.

Table 4 details the violations found through the state inspections conducted over the last two years.

Table 4: Inspection Results for Inspections Conducted April 1, 2003 Through March 31, 2005

For drivers, the largest groups of violations were for medical certificates, driver duty records, and hours of service violations. Over half of the duty logbook violations resulted in the drivers being ordered out-of-service. Brakes and lighting violations were the most frequent types of vehicle-related violations. Tires were the next largest. About 40% of the brake-related violations were serious enough for the truck to be ordered out of service. Almost one third of the tire-related violations resulted in out-of-service orders. Table 5 breaks down the violations by type.

Table 5: Violations by Type

Suspension Authority

CGS § 14-103 states that any motor vehicle cited for an equipment-related motor vehicle law violation must be repaired and taken to a state-approved inspection station within 10 days. If the DMV does not receive a copy of the form indicating that the vehicle has been properly repaired within 20 days of the original citation, the commissioner may suspend the privilege of the owner to register any motor vehicle or to operate any motor vehicle in Connecticut if it is registered in another jurisdiction until the vehicle is put in safe operating condition. Thus while there may be no direct sanction against a carrier’s operating authority, there is one against individual vehicles. According to DMV, there have been instances where it has suspended the registrations of all of the vehicles operated by a Connecticut-based carrier until each was adequately repaired and presented for inspection.

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