Story by: John Gallagher, Washington Correspondent @ FreightWaves.com

Knight-Swift Transportation [NYSE: KNX] is appealing to federal regulators that it be exempt from having to provide certain record-keeping requirements for its drivers citing onerous and unnecessary costs.

A letter from Knight-Swift attorneys recently made public by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) explains that Knight Transportation’s first attempt at the exemption, in a request filed in October 2016 before its 2017 merger with Swift Transportation, went without a response after the agency confirmed it had been received.

“Consequently, their application languished for over three years without an answer from FMCSA,” wrote Sean Scapellato, a partner with the law firm Cobb Dill Hammett.

“Now, Knight-Swift are harmed for reasons beyond their control and not of their making. Without exemption relief from agency record-keeping requirements…the costs are staggering and continue to escalate” due to computer system limitations at the Arizona Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), he said. Knight-Swift is based in Phoenix.

Knight Transportation’s initial request seeking a two-year exemption from federal rules explained that the company’s process for ensuring its newly hired drivers were medically examined and certified goes above and beyond the FMCSA’s requirements, rendering them redundant

“Our commitment to safety means that we have historically chosen to bear the cost of re-certifying drivers during the hiring process,” the company wrote in 2016. “However, the added costs of obtaining duplicate MVR [motor vehicle records] challenges the resources we have devoted to this area.” It warned that if not granted the exemption, “our fleet’s safety and individual driver’s safety will surely not be served,” it stated.

Read the full story HERE @ freightwaves.com

Source and credits: freightwaves.com / John Gallagher /  iTrucker  / Mario Pawlowski