OTA Dispatch Issue1, 2021

10 Oregon Trucking Associations, Inc. Oregon Truck Dispatch no memory of their NCE audit. Often, they don’t even remember having had the audit. More to the point, the carriers learned little to nothing and the violations we uncover are always a surprise. I cannot see that as a successful program. You put your finger on the crux of my disregarded lament when you suggest individual states should decide where the best value is. Exactly.” These research studies make clear that there certainly is some benefit to be had from the basic idea of NCE which seeks to have an intercession with new carrier entrants early on in their trajectory. However, I am not convinced that one size fits all approach dictated by FMCSA necessarily delivers an optimized result. I’ll now turn my attention to PRISM. Until 2020, Oregon has not been a participant in PRISM. Oregon was a participant in the original pilot (CVIS) in the early 1990’s but soon dropped out of the pilot because the quality of the data available in the pilot was very poor. Oregon instead pursued a different path to address the problem of repeat offenders and reincarnated carriers through ORS 825.137 Cancellation, revocation or suspension of authority, generally as amended in 1997 and 2009. A relevant part ORS 825.137 says: 825.137 Cancellation, revocation or suspension of authority, generally. (1) Certificates and permits when issued shall be valid until suspended or revoked when the carrier is found by the Department of Transportation to be in violation of this chapter or ORS chapter 818. A variance permit issued under ORS chapter 818 shall be valid for the length of time for which it is issued unless prior to that time the permit is suspended or revoked by the Department of Transportation for violation of this chapter or ORS chapter 818. (2) Certificates or permits, or variance permits issued pursuant to ORS chapter 818, may be suspended or canceled by the department based upon the department’s own motion after notice and hearing, when the certificate or permit holder: (a) Or agents or employees of the holder have repeatedly violated this chapter or other highway or motor laws of this state. In applying this paragraph, the department may consider violations by agents or employees of the holder that occurred prior to the time they became agents or employees of the holder, but only if the agent or employee has a substantial interest or control, directly or indirectly, in or over the operation of the holder. (b) Has repeatedly violated or avoided any order or rule of the department. The Oregon approach long ago sought to achieve the functional equivalent of what FMCSA now describes as the “Gold” standard for PRISM = Authority in place to deny authority of a reincarnated carrier. ORS 825.137 specifically authorizes ODOT to cancel a certificate of authority on its own motion of any carrier which itself (or their agents or officers in a former carrier control role) repeatedly violates any order of the Department, i.e., the orders arising from level one, two, and three safety complaints. I’m not clear on what additional benefit to Oregon regulators results from incurring the IT expense of formally joining the FMCSA prescribed PRISM program. It is understood Oregon had to participate in PRISM by virtue of its decision to reapply for the MCSAP grant. In essence, FMCSA held ODOT’s feet to the fire by creating a financial incentive for Oregon to participate in PRISM after a 25-year history of declining to do so. Nevertheless, Oregon has assumed the burden of having to assume the workload and expense associated with both NCE and PRISM in order to qualify for the MCSAP grant. It will be interesting to see a resulting accounting of how this decision has worked to favorably impact the achievement of the ODOT performance metric of reducing truck at fault accidents! To summarize, Oregon has long had a functional alternative to the PRISM program that serves it well. NCE is tarring every new motor carrier with the same brush. Uniformity should never be an end in itself. Oregon has a proud tradition of being different. To be great is to be misunderstood. Ralph Waldo Emerson had it right. “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to- day.— ‘Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.’ —Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.” PRISM/NCE, cont.