SOURCE: 36 FR 4876, Mar. 13, 1971, unless otherwise noted. NOMENCLATURE CHANGES: 39 FR 32561, Sept. 9, 1974. §397.1 Application of the rules in this part. which impose a more stringent obligation or restraint. § 397.5 Attendance and surveillance of motor vehicles. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, a motor vehicle which contains Class A or Class B ex (a) Except as provided in paragraph plosives must be attended at all times (c) of this section, the rules in this part apply to each motor carrier engaged in the transportation of hazardous materials by a motor vehicle which must be marked or placarded in accordance with § 177.823 of this title and to (1) Each officer or employee of the carrier who performs supervisory duties related to the transportation of hazardous materials; and (2) Each person who operates or who is in charge of a motor vehicle containing hazardous materials. (b) Each person designated in paragraph (a) of this section must know and obey the rules in this part. (c) Intracity operations: The rules in this part do not apply to a driver or a vehicle wholly engaged in exempt intracity operations as defined in § 390.16, of this chapter. [36 FR 4876, Mar. 13, 1971, as amended at 36 FR 16067, Aug. 19, 1971] § 397.2 Compliance with Federal motor carrier safety regulations. A motor carrier or other person to whom this part is applicable must comply with the rules in Part 390 through 397, inclusive, of this subchapter when he is transporting hazardous materials by a motor vehicle which must be marked or placarded in accordance with § 177.823 of this title. [37 FR 18080, Sept. 7, 1972] § 397.3 State and local laws, ordinances, and regulations. Every motor vehicle containing hazardous materials must be driven and parked in compliance with the laws, ordinances, and regulations of the jurisdiction in which it is being operated, unless they are at variance with specific regulations of the Department of Transportation which are applicable to the operation of that vehicle and by its driver or a qualified representative of the motor carrier that operates it. (b) The rules in paragraph (a) of this section do not apply to a motor vehicle which contains Class A or Class B explosives if all of the following conditions exist (1) The vehicle is located on the property of a motor carrier, on the property of a shipper or consignee of the explosives, in a safe haven, or, in the case of a vehicle containing 50 pounds or less of either Class A or Class B explosives, on a construction or survey site; and (2) The lawful bailee of the explosives is aware of the nature of the explosives the vehicle contains and has been instructed in the procedures he must follow in emergencies; and (3) The vehicle is within the bailee's unobstructed field of view or is located in a safe haven. (c) A motor vehicle which contains hazardous materials other than Class A or Class B explosives and which is located on a public street or highway or the shoulder of a public highway must be attended by its driver. However, the vehicle need not be attended while its driver is performing duties which are incident and necessary to his duties as the operator of the vehicle. (d) For purposes of this section (1) A motor vehicle is attended when the person in charge of the vehicle is on the vehicle, awake, and not in a sleeper berth, or is within 100 feet of the vehicle and has it within his unobstructed field of view. (2) A qualified representative of a motor carrier is a person who (i) Has been designated by the carrier to attend the vehicle; (ii) Is aware of the nature of the hazardous materials contained in the vehicle he attends; (iii) Has been instructed in the procedures he must follow in emergencies; and (iv) Is authorized to move the vehicle and has the means and ability to do so. (3) A safe haven is an area specifically approved in writing by local, State, or Federal governmental authorities for the parking of unattended vehicles containing Class A or Class B explosives. (e) The rules in this section do not relieve a driver from any obligation imposed by law relating to the placing of warning devices when a motor vehicle is stopped on a public street or highway. [36 FR 4876, Mar. 13, 1971, as amended at 36 FR 9870, May 28, 1971] § 397.7 Parking. (a) A motor vehicle which contains Class A or Class B explosives must not be parked (1) On or within 5 feet of the traveled portion of a public street or highway; (2) On private property (including premises of a fueling or eating facility) without the knowledge and consent of the person who is in charge of the property and who is aware of the nature of the hazardous materials the vehicle contains; or (3) Within 300 feet of a bridge, tunnel, dwelling, building, or place where people work, congregate, or assemble, except for brief periods when the necessities of operation require the vehicle to be parked and make it impracticable to park the vehicle in any other place. (b) A motor vehicle which contains hazardous materials other than Class A or Class B explosives must not be parked on or within five feet of the traveled portion of public street or highway except for brief periods when the necessities of operation require the vehicle to be parked and make it impracticable to park the vehicle in any other place. [36 FR 4876, Mar. 13, 1971, as amended at 36 FR 9780, May 28, 1971] § 397.9 Routes. (a) Unless there is no practicable alternative, a motor vehicle which contains hazardous materials must be operated over routes which do not go through or near heavily populated areas, places where crowds are assembled, tunnels, narrow streets, or alleys. Operating convenience is not a basis for determining whether it is practicable to operate a motor vehicle in accordance with this paragraph. (b) Before a motor carrier requires or permits a motor vehicle containing Class A or Class B explosives to be operated, he must prepare a written plan of a route that complies with the rules in paragraph (a) of this section for that vehicle and must furnish a copy of the written plan to the driver. However, the driver may prepare the written plan as agent for the motor carrier when the driver begins his trip at a location other than the carrier's terminal. [36 FR 4876, Mar. 13, 1971, as amended at 36 FR 9780, May 28, 1971] (a) Its engine must not be operating; and (b) A person must be in control of the fueling process at the point where the fuel tank is filled. § 397.17 Tires. (a) If a motor vehicle which contains hazardous materials is equipped with dual tires on any axle, its driver must stop the vehicle in a safe location at least once during each 2 hours or 100 miles of travel, whichever is less, and must examine its tires. The driver must also examine the vehicle's tires at the beginning of each trip and each time the vehicle is parked. (b) If, as the result of an examination pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section, or otherwise, a tire if found to be flat, leaking, or improperly inflated, the driver must cause the tire to be repaired, replaced, or properly inflated before the vehicle is driven. However, the vehicle may be driven to the nearest safe place to perform the required repair, replacement, or inflation. (c) If, as the result of an examination pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section, or otherwise, a tire is found to be overheated, the driver shall immediately cause the overheated tire to be removed and placed at a safe distance from the vehicle. The driver shall not operate the vehicle until the cause of the overheating is corrected. (d) Compliance with the rules in this section does not relieve a driver from the duty to comply with the rules in §§ 397.5 and 397.7. § 397.19 Instructions and documents. (a) A motor carrier that transports Class A or Class B explosives must furnish the driver of each motor vehicle in which the explosives are transported with the following documents: (1) A copy of the rules in this part; (2) [Reserved] (3) A document containing instructions on procedures to be followed in the event of accident or delay. The documents must include the names and telephone numbers of persons (including representatives of carriers or shippers) to be contacted, the nature of the explosives being transported, and the precautions to be taken in emergencies such as fires, accidents, or leakages. (b) A driver who receives documents in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section must sign a receipt for them. The carrier shall retain the receipt in his files for 1 year at his principal place of business. However, upon a written request to, and with the approval of, the Director, Regional Motor Carrier Safety Office, for the region in which a motor carrier has his principal place of business, the carrier may maintain the receipts at a regional or terminal office. The addresses and jurisdictions of the Directors of Regional Motor Carrier Safety Offices are shown in § 390.40 of this subchapter. (c) A driver of a motor vehicle which contains Class A or Class B explosives must have in his possession and be familiar with (1) The documents specified in paragraph (a) of this section; (2) The documents specified in § 177.817 of Chapter I of this title; and (3) The written route plan specified in § 397.9(b). [36 FR 4876, Mar. 13, 1971, as amended at 36 FR 14741, Aug. 11, 1971; 36 FR 23802, Dec. 15, 1971] § 397.21 Marking of vehicles operated by private carriers. (a) General. A motor vehicle being operated by a private carrier of property must be marked as specified in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section if that vehicle (1) Is transporting hazardous materials of a kind or quantity that require the vehicle to be marked or placarded in accordance with § 177.823 of this title; and (2) Is operating under its own power, either alone or in combination. (b) Nature of marking. The marking must display the following information: (1) The name or trade name of the private carrier operating the vehicle. (2) The city or community in which the carrier maintains its principal office or in which the vehicle is customarily based. (3) If the name of a person other than the operating carrier appears on the vehicle, the words "operated by" immediately preceding the information required by paragraphs (b) (1) and (2) of this section. Other identifying information may be displayed on the vehicle if it is not inconsistent with the information required by this paragraph. (c) Size, shape, location, and color of marking. The marking must (1) Appear on both sides of the vehicle; (2) Be in letters that contrast sharply in color with the background; (3) Be readily legible during daylight hours from a distance of 50 feet while the vehicle is stationary; and (4) Be kept and maintained in a manner that retains the legibility required by paragraph (c) (3) of this section. The marking may consist of a removable device if that device meets the identification and legibility requirements of this section. [37 FR 13471, July 8, 1972] (b) Carrier of migrant workers by motor vehicle. "Carrier of migrant worker by motor vehicle" means any person, including any "contract carrier by motor vehicle", but not including any "common carrier by motor vehicle", who or which transports in interstate or foreign commerce at any one time three or more migrant workers to or from their employment by any motor vehicle other than a passenger automobile or station wagon, except a migrant worker transporting himself or his immediate family. (c) Motor carrier. "Motor carrier" means any carrier of migrant workers by motor vehicle as defined in paragraph (b) of this section. (d) Motor vehicle. "Motor vehicle" means any vehicle, machine, tractor, trailer, or semitrailer propelled or drawn by mechanical power and used upon the highways in the transportation of passengers or property, or any combination thereof, determined by the Administration, but does not include a passenger automobile or station wagon, any vehicle, locomotive, or car operated exclusively on a rail or rails, or a trolley bus operated by electric power derived from a fixed overhead wire, furnishing local passenger transportation in street-railway ser vice. (e) Bus. "Bus" means any motor vehicle designed, constructed, and used for the transportation of passengers: Except passenger automobiles or station wagons other than taxicabs. (f) Truck. "Truck" means any selfpropelled motor vehicle except a truck tractor, designed and constructed primarily for the transportation of propрerty. (g) Truck tractor. "Truck tractor" means a self-propelled motor vehicle designed and used primarily for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the vehicle and load so drawn. (h) Semitrailer. "Semitrailer" means any motor vehicle other than a "pole trailer", with or without motive power designed to be drawn by another motor vehicle and so constructed that some part of its weight rests upon the towing vehicle. (i) Driver or operator. "Driver or operator" means any person who drives any motor vehicle. (j) Highway. “Highway" means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular traffic. §398.2 Applicability. The regulations prescribed in this part shall be applicable to motor carriers of migrant workers, as defined in § 398.1(b), only in the case of transportation of any migrant worker for a total distance of more than seventyfive miles, and then only if such transportation is across the boundary line of any State, the District of Columbia, or Territory of the United States, or a foreign country. [33 FR 19765, Dec. 25, 1968, as amended at 40 FR 44557, Sept. 29, 1975) § 398.3 Qualifications of drivers or opera tors. (a) Compliance required. Every motor carrier, and its officers, agents, representatives and employees who drive motor vehicles or are responsible for the hiring, supervision, training. assignment or dispatching of drivers shall comply and be conversant with the requirements of this part. (b) Minimum physical requirements. No person shall drive, nor shall any motor carrier require or permit any person to drive, any motor vehicle unless such person possesses the following minimum qualifications: (1) No loss of foot, leg, hand or arm, (2) No mental, nervous, organic, or functional disease, likely to interfere with safe driving. (3) No loss of fingers, impairment of use of foot, leg, fingers, hand or arm, or other structural defect or limitation, likely to interfere with safe driving. (4) Eyesight: Visual acuity of at least 20/40 (Snellen) in each eye either without glasses or by correction with glasses; form field of vision in the horizontal meridian shall not be less than a total of 140 degrees; ability to distinguish colors red, green and yellow; drivers requiring correction by glasses shall wear properly prescribed glasses at all times when driving. (5) Hearing: Hearing shall not be less than 10/20 in the better ear, for conversational tones, without a hearing aid. (6) Liquor, narcotics and drugs: Shall not be addicted to the use of narcotics or habit forming drugs, or the excessive use of alcoholic beverages or liquors. (7) Initial and periodic physical examination of drivers: No person shall drive nor shall any motor carrier require or permit any person to drive any motor vehicle unless within the immediately preceding 36 month period such person shall have been physically examined and shall have been certified in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (b)(8) of this section by a licensed doctor of medicine or osteopathy as meeting the requirements of this subsection. (8) Certificate of physical examination: Every motor carrier shall have in its files at its principal place of business for every driver employed or used by it a legible certificate of a licensed doctor of medicine or osteopathy based on a physical examination as required by paragraph (b)(7) of this section or a legible photographically reproduced copy thereof, and every driver shall have in his possession while driving, such a certificate or a photographically reproduced thereof covering himself. copy (9) Doctor's certificate: The doctor's certificate shall certify as follows: This is to certify that I have this day examined in accordance with $398.3(b) of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations of the Federal Highway Administration and that I find him Qualified under said rules Qualified only when wearing glasses I have kept on file in my office a completed examination. (Date) (Place) (Signature of examining doctor) (Address of doctor) Signature of driver Address of driver |