operating under the section 203 (b) exemptions, as they become known to us either through observation on the highways by staff members or by happenstance. To date copies of the regulations have been served on only 31,514 private carriers and on 11,719 carriers operating under the exemptions in section 203 (b). This means that about 96,000 such carriers have not been served with the regulations, nor received notice, other than through general notice to the public that they are subject to the regulations. Recent road checks have confirmed our belief that there are many such carriers who do not even know that they are required to comply with the Commission's safety regulations. In the road check last October it was found that 65.8 percent of the private carriers and 69.3 percent of the so-called exempt carriers had 4 or more driver-equipment defects. This compared with 38.4 percent for authorized carriers. In the absence of a more effective means of reaching these carriers, we could never hope to acquaint all of them with the regulations. Even if they could all be reached under the methods now employed, we would have no way of knowing how many of them discontinued their interstate operations during any given year. It has been the Commission's policy to obtain, insofar as possible, voluntary compliance with its motor carrier safety regulations. This has been done through dissemination of educational material, inspection of carrier operations and equipment, and other methods of keeping the carriers currently informed of applicable regulations. Senator SMATHERS. Just a second. Off the record, please. (Discussion off the record.) Senator SMATHERS. Go right ahead, please, Mr. Clarke. Mr. CLARKE. Since the private and exempt carriers operate about three times as many vehicles as the carriers which hold operating authority from the Commission, the importance of their being advised of, and complying with, these regulations is readily apparent. We cannot effectively carry out our safety program and advise these carriers of their obligations unless we know who they are and where they are based. S. 1490 would enable us to do this by inserting in part II of the Interstate Commerce Act a new subsection 226a requiring motor carriers which are subject only to the Commission's hours of service and safety regulations to file with the Commission once each year a brief statement showing their name, their location or principal address, and the number of vehicles owned or operated. This would not require the filing of complicated or elaborate reports. It might even be accomplished through the simple expediency of a postcard. At this point I would like to offer as an exhibit a penny postcard which contains all the information. Senator SMATHER., We will make that a part of the record if there is no objection. (The postcard referred to is as follows:) Name Address Number of trucks owned or operated in interstate commerce Mr. CLARKE. At this point I would also like to suggest two technical amendments which we believe, upon further consideration of the proposal, to be desirable for purposes of clarification. The amendments are attached as appendix A. These changes are deemed necessary because sections 202 (c) and 203, as they now read, provide that the provisions of part II shall not apply to the operations specified therein, except section 204 relative to qualifications and maximum hours of service of employees and safety of operation and equipment. The proposed changes would merely make it clear that such operations would be subject, also, to the provisions of proposed new section 226 (a). We believe that this suggested legislation is essential to the proper and effective administration of our motor carrier safety regulations and to the discharge of our responsibilities to the public with respect to this important phase of our work. We are convinced that S. 1490 would go a long way toward accomplishing this objective and therefore urge its speedy enactment. Senator SMATHERS. May I interrupt you there just a moment? Senator SMATHERS. As I understand this, apparently there is a great number of people who operate trucks up and down the highways who are not aware of your minimum safety requirements? Mr. CLARKE. That is absolutely right. Senator SMATHERS. And those people possibly do not violate the requirements knowingly, they do it in many instances unknowingly? Mr. CLARKE. We think that that is usually the case, Mr. Chair man. Senator SMATHERS. It is your suggestion and the Commission's suggestion that the way to let those people know about these minimum safety requirements is once a year to have them write to you people what they do, what their business is, and how many trucks they operate. Mr. CLARKE. That is right. Senator SMATHERS. Also where their home office is, and then you people can get to them. Mr. CLARKE. Then our field force could call on them, acquaint them with the regulations, inspect their equipment if necessary, and educate them with respect to the requirements to which they are subject. Senator SMATHERS. And it is your belief that this would, of course, cut down the fatalities on the highways and it would improve the general traffic condition, you might say, with respect to trucks over the highway? Mr. CLARKE. We are convinced that it would do that. Senator SMATHERS. Senator, do you have any questions that you care to ask? Senator LAUSCHE. Has this proposed legislation been initiated by your Commission? Mr. CLARKE. Yes, it has, Senator. It is one of our legislative recommendations. Senator LAUSCHE. That is, its source is in the minds of the members of your Commission? Mr. CLARKE. That is right. Senator LAUSCHE. And you make the recommendation because you believe it will contribute to the maintenance of safety? Mr. CLARKE. Yes. Congress has imposed upon us a responsibility of regulating private and exempt carriers from the standpoint of safety. We want to do that job, but we have been unable to do it because we don't know who the private and exempt carriers are or where they are located. This is merely a method of informing us where they are so we can go out and see that they comply. Senator LAUSCHE. Has the thought been actuated by any outside agency? Mr. CLARKE. No, it has not. Senator LAUSCHE. All right. Mr. CLARKE. However, we understand from informal discussions that various segments of the highway industry, you might call it that, believe that this would be a necessary and desirable law because they recognize, too, just as we do, that the present type of operations by many private and exempt carriers does create a serious hazard on the roads. Senator LAUSCHE. Thank you. That is all. Senator SMATHERS. All right, sir. Thank you very much. Now we proceed to your discussion with respect to Senate bill 1491. Mr. CLARKE. Thank you. This measure proposed to revise the Federal statute commonly known as the Transportation of Explosives Act passed nearly 50 years ago. The revision would enlarge the scope of the act by specifically including radioactive materials and etiologic agents. Senator SMATHERS. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Senator SMATHERS. On the record. Let's proceed. Mr. CLARKE. It would also make the act applicable to contract and private carriers as well as common carriers. In addition, the word "knowingly" would be deleted from what is now section 835. There are certain clarifying changes which we are recommending with respect to this bill. Senator LAUSCHE. Let's find out here, the word "knowingly" would be deleted from what is now section 835. In that connection is the word "knowingly" used in that section? Mr. CLARKE. I cover that a little later, Senator. Senator LAUSCHE. Do you? Mr. CLARKE. Yes. Senator LAUSCHE. All right. Mr. CLARKE. Most of these clarifying changes are based upon informal suggestions offered by representatives of the American Trucking Association. Because of their minor nature, these suggested changes have been listed in appendix B rather than take up the committee's time with a detailed discussion. The Transportation of Explosives Act has served its purpose well in providing the means by which a high standard of protection has been afforded in an area that is fraught with unusual dangers to the public. The transportation of dangerous articles has grown steadily, and with the tremendous increase in the production of radioactive materials and etiologic agents, we believe it essential to reexamine the present provisions of the law in the light of technological advances with a view toward insuring that the high standard of safety heretofore maintained will be continued. The importance of safety in this field becomes even more apparent when traffic conditions alone are considered. In the year 1900, or about the time this act was first passed, motor vehicle registrations within the States amounted to only 8,000-today there are over 65 million such registrations. The Institute of Makers of Explosives estimated that in 1955 about 569 million pounds of commercial explosives, or about 72.9 percent of the total of over 780 million pounds consumed (excluding liquid oxygen explosives), moved by motor vehicle in long-distance hauls from manufacturing plants. At the present time, we have no regulations governing the transportation of etiologic agents. Technically, etiologic agents, such as live viruses, bacteria, and the like, which can cause disease, are not poisons, since poisons are not composed of living organisms. S. 1491 would place the transportation of etiologic agents squarely within the jurisdiction of the Commission. In addition, the present provisions of the act make no specific mention of radioactive materials, although the Commission has prescribed regulations covering materials of this nature by classifying them as "poisons". It is questionable whether we have had the authority to do that. S. 1491 would remove any doubt as to the Commission's jurisdiction respecting the transportation of these radioactive commodities. This bill would also make the act directly applicable to contract. and private motor carriers in addition to its present application to common carriers. Thus, it would eliminate somewhat of an anomaly in which motor common carriers are subject to maximum penalties of $10,000 or 10 years imprisonment, or both, for violations of the Explosives Act, while private and contract carriers are subject to a maximum penalty of only $100, under section 222 (a) of the Interstate Commerce Act, for the very same violations. The proposed amendment would make those provisions relating to packing, marking, and so forth, of explosives and other dangerous articles applicable to shippers tendering goods to interstate carriers irrespective of whether the shipments are destined for movement in interstate, intrastate, or foreign commerce. In the interest of protecting interstate passengers, employees of interstate carriers, and interstate carrier facilities, the provisions just mentioned would be made applicable to all shipments of dangerous articles, including intrastate shipments handled on interstate vehicles or commingled with interstate traffic. Senator SMATHERS. In other words, the way you overcome the so-called constitutional limitation on the I. C. C. having jurisdiction in intrastate matters would be to say that these intrastate shipments are actually shipped on interstate vehicles? Mr. CLARKE. That is right, or commingled with interstate goods. Senator SMATHERS. Or in close proximity to interstate traffic? Senator SMATHERS. All right. Mr. CLARKE. The enactment of S. 1491 would extend the provisions of the act to include all for-hire carriers of passengers by land, and the present exemption of specific quantities of various articles would be changed so as to authorize the Commission to pre scribe the kind, amount, and conditions under which such articles may be so transported. Senator SMATHERS. Would that include taxicabs and carriers of that nature? All for-hire carriers of passengers by land? Mr. CLARKE. We didn't have taxicabs in mind. I don't believe dangerous explosives ordinarily move by taxicabs, but they do move by railroad passenger cars and perhaps in some instances by bus. Senator SMATHERS. Would a man, say, going to hold up a bank and he had in his possession a couple of guns and maybe some dynamite to blast the vault, if he were caught in a taxicab with it-of course, if he were caught he would be arrested anyway-but that does not put any responsibility on the taxicab driver, does it? Mr. CLARKE. No. Senator SMATHERS. All right. Mr. CLARKE. As will be illustrated later in answer to Senator Lausche's previous question. Senator SMATHERS. All right. Mr. CLARKE. As the act now reads, the transportation of liquid nitroglycerin or other like explosives by common carriers is absolutely prohibited. However, no such prohibition exists against the transportation of such commodities by contract or private motor carriers. There is no intention by the proposed revision to restrict the transportation of these commodities, or of radioactive materials, or etiologic agents, to any particular class of carrier or persons. The intention is, however, to strictly limit and regulate all transportation of these extremely dangerous items by providing that they shall not be transported except under such rules and regulations as the Commission shall prescribe. In this connection, authority would be conferred upon the Commission to determine what explosives constitute "other similarly dangerous explosives" or articles. Existing provisions relating to the marking of packages containing explosives and other dangerous articles would, under the proposed revision, include the tendering of such articles to any carrier by land or water, and to any person carrying such articles upon any interstate carrier by land, including private as well as common and contract carriers. Now we come to section 835. The present section 835 (sec. 834 in S. 1491) would be revised to include, specifically, radioactive materials and etiologic agents. This section would also be expanded so the Commission may avail itself of the services, advice, and assistance of not only the Bureau for the Safe Transportation of Explosives and Other Dangerous Articles, as is now provided in the act, but would also include the services, advice, and assistance of carrier and shipper associations. S. 1491 would, in addition, eliminate the word "knowingly" from present section 835 (sec. 834 in the bill). The use of this word has made it virtually impossible to prosecute successfully violations of the Commission's transportation of explosives regulations, which violations fall within the category of "public welfare offenses". These are not offenses that arise out of any affirmative intent, but result more from neglect where the law requires care, or inaction where it imposes a duty to act. In this type of violation, whatever the intent of the violator, the potential danger to society remains the same whether the violation |