The Trucking Industry's Federal Paperwork Burden Should Be Reduced
GGD-81-32
Published: Mar 03, 1981. Publicly Released: Mar 23, 1981.
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Highlights
As part of a review on the paperwork burden imposed on American business by federal agencies, GAO examined the efforts of the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to manage their paperwork requirements affecting the trucking industry.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Congress should, if it wants DOT to publish loss and damage reports showing industry management and law enforcement agencies the significance of the cargo theft problem, authorize DOT to require the applicable data. |
Closed – Not Implemented
|
The DOT Cargo Security Branch was denied funding; DOT no longer has a need to collect the subject data. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Interstate Commerce Commission | The Chairman of ICC should strengthen the ICC paperwork management process by establishing controls to ensure that (1) clearance submissions are accurately prepared; (2) justifications for paperwork requirements are properly documented; and (3) requirements are cleared before they are imposed on the public. The Chairman should also evaluate the differences between the final data task force recommendations and the assessment by the Section of Accounting and Reporting's three-man review team and, in instances where the task force recommendations are valid and the team's recommendations are not fully supported, initiate steps to implement the task force recommendations. |
Closed – Implemented
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| Interstate Commerce Commission | The Chairman of ICC should direct the ICC Managing Director to initiate action to revise or eliminate reporting requirements immediately after all or part of them have been determined to be unnecessary. |
Closed – Not Implemented
Although the audit showed that data were being collected without being used, ICC believes it has already met this recommendation with a policy statement directing agencies and bureaus to collect only data used regularly.
|
| Interstate Commerce Commission | The Chairman of ICC should complete a determination of whether the commodity statistics data are essential for ICC operations. Based upon this determination, the Chairman should either eliminate the requirement or revise it using a statistical sample of existing company records. The burden imposed by the reporting universe and reporting method of any revised reporting requirement should be compatible with ICC's needs. |
Closed – Implemented
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| Department of Transportation | The Secretary of Transportation should require the Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration to (1) routinely provide the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety's field investigators with appropriate summarized data and ensure that they use it to systematically identify and investigate carriers most in need of safety surveys; (2) begin collecting mileage data and reporting accident ratios for all DOT-regulated carriers reporting accidents; (3) summarize safety violations by carrier, and use these summaries to identify high-risk carriers and in followup visits, to evaluate whether the DOT's paperwork requirements contribute to enhancing highway safety; (4) evaluate the usefulness of the Driver's Daily Log in enhancing highway safety to provide a basis for continuing or eliminating the requirement; (5) assure that the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety uses data developed during its pilot study to expeditiously and systematically develop and carry out an implementation plan for a Department-wide management information system; and (6) eliminate the Accident Register requirement. |
Closed – Implemented
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
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Topics
Federal regulationsInterstate commerceRecords managementReporting requirementsTransportation industryTrucking operationsAgricultural commoditiesStatistical dataSurveysMotor carriers