At its annual convention earlier this week in San Diego, the Truckload Carriers Association agreed to back the use of electronic logging devices to ensure compliance with hours-of-service regulations. Though the association said supporting such a measure is consistent with the changing trucking operation environment, it outlined several areas for consideration. Among them, addressing operational diversity, considering tax incentives for their Continue Reading

As part of the new cross-border agreement with Mexico, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will require all Mexican trucks entering the United States to be equipped with electronic onboard recorders. But what may draw some ire from those in the industry is that the FMSCA has agreed to pay for them. The announcement comes just weeks after the FMCSA announced a mandate that would require all U.S. carriers to be equipped with Continue Reading

One analyst at FTR Associates predicts that the new hours-of-service revisions will have the greatest impact on less-than-truckload shippers, more so in terms of distribution costs. Primarily, those costs will rise because of the incresed need for workers at the dock. Where in the past, the supply chain put more of a burden on the trucker, FTR says the loading dock will now have to adapt to the in-service hours of the trucker. In an analysis of the Continue Reading

About 8 percent of the 650,000 carriers the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is tracking will receive warning letters in the next two months, according to agency. That makes for a total of about 50,000 letters warning carriers that their performance merited “alert” status by falling below acceptable levels on at least one of CSA’s Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories, or BASICs. Those BASICs, such as unsafe or fatigued driving, form the statistical heart of CSA’s safety meas-urement system, which assigns a percentage ranking on each BASIC and Continue Reading

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new safety performance measurement tool is in effect, but anticipated cost of its full implementation are on the rise, according to a new Government Accountability Office report. First developed in 2004, CSA has undergone recent changes to assess and potentially fine drivers for violations across several categories, including maintenance and fatigued driving. CSA costs in Continue Reading

Despite all the benefits the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has touted the hours-of-service revisions will offer, one independent study of the changes show increased costs–and questionable means at arriving at such claims–instead. Edgeworth Economics, a consulting firm that’s done wide-ranging work for the likes of the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Football League Players Association, found that the government agency overstated the benefits of the proposed rule by about Continue Reading

At a recent listening session to review the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposed hours-of-service changes, many industry executives expressed the sentiments held by many: No change necessary. In a rebuttal to the notion that shorter hours would alleviate fatigue among drivers, representatives suggested something more proactive, like focusing its energy to address the fundmentals of Continue Reading

In response to the outpouring of feedback to its proposed changes to the hours-of-service rule, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is extending the public comment period. Now, the deadline for comment is March 4, which also allows the organization to review additional documentation, particularly Continue Reading

The Truckload Carriers Association has signed on with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association in its opposition of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s latest proposal to require the use of electronic onboard recorders. The 700-member TCA says it sees no link between the use of the technology and improved safety and is calling for a pilot program to help determine whether that Continue Reading

Talk of mandating use of electronic onboard recorders has got some in the industry up in arms, but suppliers saw this one coming, thanks to a series of rulings as far back as 2008. Then the FMCSA announced that data from advanced technologies, such as systems that use the Global Positioning System (GPS) for vehicle location, are supporting documents for verifying driver logs. And in 2010, the FMCSA issued a final rule for section 395.16 that required carriers that have a history of serious log violations to install EOBRs. This latest proposal is expected to be issued a final rule by July 2012 Continue Reading