Blog Posts Tagged "Regulations"

With a trucker's schedule, finding time for your DOT physical can be tricky. You need to find a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration–approved medical examiner every two years to maintain your CDL, and sometimes the two-year-deadline approaches when you're out on the road.

Commission, approximately 95,000 people suffered injuries and 3,964 were killed from accidents involving large trucks in 2013. Although some accidents were linked to bad drivers on suspended licenses, mental impairment and other drivers, some of these accidents involved trucks that did not have safe tires.

Although unemployment rates in the US have been slowly recovering since the economic downturn in 2008, the trucking industry continues to face a steep and steadily worsening shortage of truck drivers. As freight volumes keep increasing, this shortage is becoming an even bigger problem for the trucking industry.

Time for some spring cleaning — and that includes checking in on trucking regulations that affect your daily life. The trucking industry in the midst of further changes to the restart rules and other new items:

Tired of filling out paperwork when you have no changes to report on your DVIR (Daily Vehicle Inspection Report)? Well, apparently the U.S. D.O.T. is also tired of reading them – so as of December 2014, if you have no mechanical or safety issues to report, fuh-get about it.

As Shakespeare once asked, What's in a name? For truckers working the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and by extension others across the country, their continued livelihood depends on the answer. Drivers and trucking companies have been locked in a bitter labor dispute, causing the truckers to strike last November in an effort to obtain more equitable working conditions. At issue is the loss of employee status as companies now list them as independent contractors.

If your future travels take you through Calgary, better make sure you take your checkbook along. The city council is instituting a steep hike in the fine for straying from designated trucking routes. Local regulations are designed to keep trucks and other heavy vehicles on the city's major roads and thoroughfares. The intent is to prevent noise and obstacles from disrupting quieter residential areas.

Everybody loves saving money on gasoline, especially independent truckers. More miles per gallon might just make or break your profit, but the long-term savings come at the cost of the initial investment. Are you ready to buy a new truck just yet? New EPA rules already mandated higher MPG for pickups and semis a few years ago. By the spring of 2015, we'll hear about the next round of standards that will apply to model year 2018 and later.

A recent lawsuit may change training requirements for those seeking to embark on a career in the trucking industry. Though auto fatalities have dropped in recent years, fatalities involving large trucks are on the rise, increasing by 4 percent in 2012. Injuries have also increased 18 percent, racking up an astounding 4,000 deaths and over 70,000 injuries.

The moment of inertia for a fully-loaded tractor-trailer is nothing compared to the difficulty encountered when trying to pass much needed changes to trucking industry regulations. Senseless regulatory differences between the United States and Canada further complicate the lives of truckers and interfere with their ability to make a decent living.

Innovation frequently move faster than government. Whether it is the Federal Aviation Administration blocking commercial use of drones or the Federal Communications Commission's sluggish action on net neutrality, technology is moving at a blistering pace while the government spends more money studying and debating regulations. Regardless of how self-driving trucks may impact jobs and the economy, we can be sure the jobs of lobbyist and politicians are secure.

Despite setbacks in the struggle, truckers continue to fight for better safety regulations. The changes to trucking laws have negatively impacted productivity by at least 3 to 5 percent, according to the American Trucking Association—without promising any real solution for driver fatigue.

Anytime a new driver ask experienced drivers about the best time to drive, they get the same response: Drive when you have to, sleep when you can. The road and customers can wreck havoc on your nerves, making restful sleep difficult and sporadic. Even when you do get seven or so hours of sleep, you can still spend your waking hours feeling run down and fatigued if you are on an inconsistent schedule.

Being your own boss and setting you own work schedule are two of the top reasons you started driving a truck. New government mandates are now restricting the total number of hours you can work in a week and regulating your off hours, too. These regulations are altering the income and independence of drivers.

Why on earth would politicians in Washington know what's best for truckers? If you ask the feds about why truckers have faced increased regulation and stricter limits on driving times, they'll tell you it's about safety—that more restrictive Hours of Service laws will reduce driver fatigue and crashes.

Commercial truck driving is one of the country's Top 10 most hazardous jobs. When you spend your work day (and night) battling traffic and inattentive drivers on America's highways, safety needs to be Job One if you want to return home safely. As every heavy duty truck driver knows, job safety begins with personal safety.

Many feel increasing stringent federal regulations impacting drivers, especially new driver hours of service regulations and mandatory electronic onboard recorders, will have a dramatic impact on the driver pool.

Black boxes, electronic logging devices (ELDs), electronic onboard recorders (EOBRs), whatever you choose to call them, have long been a controversial issue in the trucking industry with most drivers considering having one the equivalent of having Big Brother onboard.

Although the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Compliance Safety and Accountability Program known throughout the industry as CSA was launched on December 12, 2010 there is still confusion among many drivers about their role under the new system and how it impacts their careers.

Improving truck safety is a priority for everyone. And efforts to reduce truck crashes have been highly successful. Truck accident statistics have shown dramatic improvements over the years and truck crash rates continue to go down even as truck miles increase.

If you're still hanging on the hope the feds will delay implementing new truck driver hours of service regulations or have just procrastinated preparing for the change, it may be time to get a move on. As it stands now, drivers will need to be ready to comply in just a few short weeks.

While any traffic fatality is a tragedy, the focus on under-ride guards is picking at nits when compared to the volume of other causes of highway deaths.

At least one in seven vehicles chosen for inspection during the recently held Brake Safety Week had brake-related out-of-service (OOS) violations. The inspections were conducted by commercial vehicle inspections who participated in the week-long annual program.

The Trucking Conditions Index (TCI) of FTR rose to 5.8 in August, compared to 4.4 in July. Since the beginning of 2011, despite a weakening economy, the TCI continued to hover in a mildly positive zone.

California Regulations Requirements and Compliance California continues to lead the way when it comes to higher emissions regulations. On December 12, 2008 the California Air Resource Board approved the CARB Compliance, with a goal of reducing particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen emissions from diesel vehicles.

This statement reflects the opinion of many people who are involved with tnew-used-truckshe trucking industry. Although there are increasing requirements to make trucks more environmentally friendly these are not all working in the new truck engine manufacturing.

One of the newest strategies to comply with new legislative mandates requiring better fuel mileage on big rigs is to add trailer skirts. One example is the new Air Slipper Side Skirts that are not only aerodynamically designed, but sleek and very affordable as well.

Finding a new truck or trailer is not the easiest thing to do when you are on the road all of the time. The research, the legwork and long distance phone calls easily eat up the little free time that you do have. When you do hit pay dirt, the feeling that you have is overwhelming.

Hours of service regulations affect everyone involved in the trucking industry, including drivers, shippers and company owners. The U.S. Department of Transportation is constantly looking for ways to increase the safety of highways in the United States, so the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has revised the hours of service requirements to reflect the latest research findings in regards to public safety.

Currently, a driver may choose to reset his workweek clock to 70 hours simply by taking a voluntary 34-hour break, with no limit to how many such breaks a driver may take during a week.

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State Trucking Associations serve a vital role in protecting the interests of the trucking industry, drivers, and employers alike. Similarly minded people come together to represent their interests from a knowledgeable stand point to the various environmental and governmental regulatory committees that enact and pass legislation.

There is a federal ban for all interstate truckers from driving and texting, however federal rules apply only to interstate commerce. Or truckers driving solely within a state, federal rules do not apply, however states are promulgating their own rules (which we reported on earlier this month).

Technology has affected our lives in so many different ways that we probably would smile with nostalgia if confronted with a rig from 20 years ago. Developments have been fast and furious, and while trucking is not considered a glam, sexy industry for technology, it has been at the forefront of some ground-breaking developments.

OOIDA (Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association) in partnership with the Port Drivers Federation 18 and the New Jersey Motor Truck Association, have petitioned the Department of Transport (DOT) for the removal of compulsory drayage truck registries.

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