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Carriers’ BASIC assessments now available

Mryan — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:30:27 +0000

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 census data, in particular power units (PU) and vehicle miles travelled (VMT) on the MCS-150 form, and take the necessary steps to correct unsafe driver and/or company safety practices. Carriers can view their scores by visiting this website and entering their U.S. DOT number and PIN.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has released individual carrier safety assessments on its Data Preview Website. This update allows carriers to see where they stand in each Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category (BASIC) based on roadside data and investigation findings.

Each motor carrier’s BASIC assessments are visible only to them and to enforcement staff until December, at which time assessments will be made available to the public. Also, enforcement agencies will use these assessments to prioritize the Agency’s enforcement and compliance assistance workload.

Click here to visit CCJ and read the complete story.

NHTSA nearing truck rollover prevention rule

Mryan — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:19:18 +0000

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 only about 13 percent of heavy-truck fatal crash involvements, but they account for 50 percent of truck-occupant fatalities. A decision on mandating the technology is expected by the end of the year, with possible implementation in 2012.

WASHINGTON – Mandatory stability control systems for highway trucks could prevent nearly 3,500 rollover-related accidents and save over 100 lives a year, the National Transportation Safety Board heard this week.

According to the Associated Press, Nathaniel Beuse, director of crash avoidance standards at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told the NTSB at a hearing that the agency is wrapping up studies on the benefits of requiring stability control technology on trucks by the end of the year.

Based on research by the NHTSA and the University of Michigan, Beuse said stability control would prevent 106 highway deaths and 4,400 injuries annually.

Click here to visit Today’s Trucking and read the complete story.

FMCSA changes SMS; CSA 2010 safety standings available Aug. 16

Mryan — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:40:38 +0000

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 carriers with histories of size and weight violations. Also, beginning Aug. 16, carriers can get a preview of where they stand based on this CSA 2010 model here.

Addressing concerns raised by the American Trucking Associations and other industry groups earlier this summer about the design of Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced updates to the Safety Management System methodology to better identify carriers deemed “high risk” or otherwise have safety compliance problems.

Most notably, the measure of exposure will be changed from Power Units only to a combination of Power Units and Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) in the Unsafe Driving BASIC and Crash Indicator. In addition, these two BASICs will change from using Power Units as a safety event grouping (formerly referred to as peer grouping) to using the number of crashes for the Crash Indicator and the number of inspections with a violation for the Unsafe Driving BASIC.

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BC blitzing continues for the summer

Mryan — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:59:06 +0000

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 the Motor Vehicle Act, inspectors could even seize license plates of vehicles for such errant offenses.

VICTORIA — Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement officers throughout B.C. plan to be out in full strength for the duration of the summer keeping a close eye on commercial truck safety.

CVSE branches in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, near Prince George, on Vancouver Island, and in the Southern Interior will work in co-operation with local law enforcement to ensure commercial vehicles are meeting safety standards.

CVSE inspectors will be targeting load security issues and the mechanical condition of commercial vehicles, including long haul trucks, as well as local taxis and farm vehicles.

Click here to visit Today’s Trucking and read the complete story.

Commercial vehicles, drivers maintaining close to record low out-of-service rates

Mryan — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:55:13 +0000

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 improvement. Notably, the nearly 20 percent increase in seat belt violations over the previous year’s inspections in 2009.

Results from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) Roadcheck 2010 reveal that the commercial motor vehicle (CMV) industry is hovering close to the record low out-of-service (OOS) rates set during 2009.

Additionally, while overall inspection totals are down from the previous year’s records, more inspectors participated at more locations in this year’s event.

This seems to indicate during 2010 that there was a shift to an increasing focus on mobile roadside inspections, says CVSA.

In 2010 roadside inspectors focused on the North American Standard (NAS) Level I inspection, safety belt enforcement, and motorcoach inspections.

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CSA 2010 fleet data holds surprises

Mryan — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:25:50 +0000

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 federal intervention. The majority of infractions were deemed controllable by the driver, like a broken windshield or moving violations. Speeding by far garnered the most points, even though most tickets issued were warnings rather than citations.

Early analysis of data for 1,500 fleets shows that 69% would face some sort of federal intervention under the 2010 Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA2010) safety screening program, compared to 1.3% under the current but expiring SafeStat system. The analysis, conducted by the data mining software company Vigillo, was based on Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) databases and methodologies that will be used to score both fleets and drivers in seven areas knows as BASICs under the new safety rating program that goes into effect in Nov.

Fleets with ratings that exceed threshold levels in any of the seven BASIC categories will face “intervention” that ranges from a letter of warning from FMCSA to increased federal scrutiny of safety records. Exceeding that threshold in one of the two BASICs involving traffic and hours-of-service violations could even result in an unsatisfactory safety rating even if a fleet has acceptable ratings in the other six categories.

Click here to visit Fleet Owner and read the complete story.

IPA releases portable battery powered trailer testers

Mryan — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:59:33 +0000

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 remote control. All models include rechargeable batteries and a charger.

Innovative Products of America (IPA) is introducing a new line of portable battery powered trailer testers for testing lights and electric brakes on a wide range of trailers.

According to the company, the Mini-MUTT (#9003) is an analog tester for 4-, 5-, 6- and 7-pin light-duty trailers featuring short-circuit protection and amperage readout. The Smart-MUTT series (#9004) and (#9007) offer advanced diagnostic testing capabilities.

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FMCSA scraps need for cargo insurance

Mryan — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:34:39 +0000

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 the insurance with FMCSA. This rule, however, does not apply to household goods carriers.

WASHINGTON — For-hire carriers will no longer be required to maintain a minimum in cargo insurance, according to a final rule issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Beginning March of 2011, carriers and freight forwarders will also no longer need to file evidence of this insurance with the FMCSA.

The new rule does not apply to household goods carriers, however.

Click here to visit Today’s Trucking and read the complete story.

Thermo King offering rebates

Mryan — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:57:15 +0000

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 your nearest Thermo King dealer. To find it, visit www.thermoking.com.

Customers can receive rebates of up to $250 from Thermo King when purchasing qualifying parts for Thermo King and Carrier units through Sept. 30, 2010. The program, in its sixth year, includes belts and filters, alternators, starters, injectors, water pumps, TriPac parts and more.

Click here to visit Fleet Owner and read the complete story.

Hybrids Place Little Strain on Fleet Repair Resources

Mryan — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:54:40 +0000

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 forward-thinking fleets like UPS, FedEx and Coca Cola who’ve invested in the technology. Typically, routine maintenance involves little more than changing an air filter on the hybrid system’s air-cooled battery and checking the battery’s coolant reservoir.

Hybrid engine technology is not yet ready for Class 8 over-the-road trucks, but it is making inroads in other heavy- and medium-duty applications and appears to be performing well, both on the road and in the shop.

The technology so far has added little maintenance work to technicians’ duties, officials with FedEx Corp., UPS Inc., Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., Florida Power & Light Co. and the New York City Department of Sanitation said in separate interviews.

Routine maintenance typically involves periodically changing an air filter on the hybrid system’s air-cooled battery and checking the battery’s coolant reservoir, with intervals depending on a company’s duty cycle.

Click here to visit Transport Topics and read the complete story.