Safety
Transportation businesses face a host of dynamic risk issues that can significantly impact their financial and operational health. The news in this category focuses on the latest safety and security initiatives, resources and regulations and addresses topics that include fleet safety, claims administration, driver hiring and retention, risk management and compliance.
Opinion: It’s Always Time to Appreciate Our Truck Drivers
One thing we’ll start to hear more about in the coming months is the next administration’s first 100 days in the Oval Office. It’s an opportunity to articulate a vision and begin executing new goals. As ATA’s new president and CEO, I’m nearing the end of my first hundred days in office and it has been an exciting time for me and our leadership team. There have been meetings to take and calls to make and all that goes into starting a new job, but we’ve hit the ground running to start securing victories for the trucking industry.
September 12, 2016Daily Briefings from Transport Topics
Transport Topics has partnered with Spoken Layer to make one-minute daily briefings available on all your smart devices. Simply say “Alexa, play Transport Topics” or “Okay Google, talk to Transport Topics” to get the day’s biggest trucking headlines.
Rail Customer Group Plans to Lobby Congress About Rail Competition
The Rail Customer Coalition, which includes 48 trade groups representing shippers, plans a lobbying effort on Capitol Hill to dramatize its view that a Surface Transportation Board regulatory proceeding evaluating increased rail competition needs to be finalized.
September 9, 2016FMCSA Seeking Comment on Medical Review Board's Diabetes Recommendations
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is seeking public comment on a slate of guidelines recommended by the agency’s medical experts for drivers with diabetes to operate commercial motor vehicles.
DTNA’s Daum Cautious on Speed Limiters, Autonomous Expectations
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The growing importance of fleets being able to regulate the speed of individual trucks through remote, over-the-air engine updates should be taken into account as the federal government considers a mandate requiring heavy-duty vehicles to utilize speed limiters, the president of Daimler Trucks North America said.
Opinion: Jake Brakes Keep Drivers Safe on Steep Roads
You can’t work in the trucking industry for long without realizing the interconnectedness of the trucking world — goods with communities, roads with ports, airports and railways, regulations across international and provincial borders and municipal boundaries, you name it. Another connection may not be immediately apparent: Canada’s National Trucking Week and “Jake” brakes.
September 5, 2016Editorial: A Welcome Proposal
After 10 years of deliberation, two agencies of the Department of Transportation have finally published a proposal that would limit the maximum speed of the largest commercial vehicles to a rate yet to be determined.
September 5, 2016Large TL Churn at 5-Year Low in Sluggish Market, ATA Says
Driver turnover fell 4 percentage points year-over-year for larger truckload fleets to 83% in the second quarter, dropping to the lowest level since 2011 amid a sluggish freight market, American Trucking Associations reported last week.
Natural-Gas Advocates Claim Victories in Phase 2 GHG Emissions Regulation
The Phase 2 greenhouse-gas emissions final rule gave natural-gas advocates victories in how the alternative fuel is handled and how emissions of methane are regulated, they said, even as the rule forecast little chance of natural gas becoming a major fuel source for heavy-duty trucks in the next decade.
Truck-Involved Crash Deaths Rise; Highest Total Since ’08, DOT Says
Fatalities in crashes involving large trucks rose 4.1% from 2014 to 2015, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported Aug. 29.
Regulations, Business Trends Put Pressure on Private Fleets
Operators of corporate-owned truck fleets are facing pressure to keep up with a growing number of regulations while also dealing with legal and business issues that go well beyond the traditional realm of equipment maintenance and driver management.