Sponsored by Representatives Henry Brown (R-SC) and Richard Baker (R-LA), the “roadability” measure aims to improve the safety of chassis and trailers interchanged with truckers at ports and rail terminals by ensuring the parties that provide the equipment to truckers are responsible for maintaining it in compliance with current federal safety requirements.

Passage of the bill would “close a decades-old safety loophole by requiring providers of more than 800,000 intermodal chassis and trailers to be accountable for inspecting, repairing and maintaining the equipment they control,” ATA president & CEO Bill Graves said. Graves explained that if the legislation is passed, defects in brakes and other safety components on trailing equipment would have to be corrected through systematic maintenance by qualified mechanics at shipyards and railroad depots before the trailer is released to motor carriers for highway transport.