The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) made preliminary scores based on its Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA 2010) model available to fleets last week, allowing companies to identify unsafe behaviors and address safety compliance issues. In December, each motor carrier’s score will be made public. Prior to CSA 2010′s implementation later this year, the FMCSA recommends that motor carriers verify and update their motor carrier Continue Reading

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is debating whether to require stability control systems for highway trucks in light of research that shows its addition could prevent nearly 3,500 rollover-related accidents and save more than 100 lives annually. Research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the University of Michigan indicates that rollovers reportedly occur in Continue Reading

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010) model won’t be enforced until later this year, but already some groups are raising concerns about its methodology. To address these, the FMSCA has made some updates, which include updating the severity weights for some roadside inspection violations and using a more strategic approach to address Continue Reading

British Columbia and local safety officials are stepping up commercial vehicle inspections for the rest of the summer. In particular, Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement officers will be looking for critical defects, such as with steering, tires, brakes and rims, that should have been easily detected prior to making the trip and are indicative of poor maintenance. According to the province’s amendments to Continue Reading

The overall number of inspections completed in the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) Roadcheck 2010 were lower, but officials are taking the almost unchanged levels of compliance rates among drivers and vehicles as a positive sign. Still, this latest round of inspections reveals there are some areas for Continue Reading

Numbers from a data mining software company provide a preliminary look at what the 2010 Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA 2010) safety screening program might hold. Based on the analysis from Vigillo, drivers and carriers will have their hands full in preparing to comply with the program’s standards. For starters, 69 percent of data collected for 1,500 fleets indicate that a majority would incur some sort of Continue Reading

A new line of portable battery powered trailer testers will be released by Innovative Products of America (IPA) for testing lights and electric brakes. According to the company, technicians can easily diagnose short circuits, open and crossed circuits, poor grounds and test electric brakes, all by Continue Reading

Paperwork for for-hire carriers just got reduced, thanks to a final rule issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). As a result, they will no longer need to maintain a minimum in cargo insurance, and beginning in March 2011, carriers and freight forwarders will no longer have to file evidence of Continue Reading

Through September 30, Thermo King is offering customers rebates of up to $250 for qualifying parts for Thermo King and Carrier units. For six years, the company has made such a program available on belts and filters, alternators, starters, injectors, water pumps, TriPac parts and more. Any questions should be directed to Continue Reading

For Class 8 trucks, hybrid engine technology is years away, but already in other medium- and heavy-duty applications, the innovation is paying off, and not just with fuel savings of 30 percent or more. Shorter downtimes, simple maintenance and mile after environmentally friendly mile for forward thinking fleets are among the bonuses for the Continue Reading