FEDERAL REGULATION OF MOTOR CARRIERS

Regulations pertaining to public safety include such matters as requirements concerning drivers' licenses, safety equipment, clearance lights, maximum speed limits, and others of a similar nature. It has already been pointed out that the states in the absence of federal regulation can enforce safety regulations of this kind against interstate motor carriers. It has also been shown that federal regulation in this field is desired in order to relieve interstate motor carriers from diverse and conflicting state laws. The only limitation upon the right of the federal government to impose such regulations upon interstate motor carriers is the general requirement that the regulations shall not be so unreasonable as to amount to a taking of property without due process of law.

No difficult problems of constitutional power are presented. Congress has long had a free hand in regulating railroads with respect to safety equipment, safety of operation, and employees' hours of service, and its power to do so has never been seriously questioned. That it possesses the power to prescribe uniform regulations of a similar kind for interstate motor carriers cannot be doubted.