Safety

WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposed a rule Thursday to mandate the use of electronic onboard recorders for habitual violators of federal hours-of-service rules.

Trucking component maker ArvinMeritor and Wal-Mart Transportation have agreed to develop a dual-mode, diesel-electric drivetrain for a Class 8 tractor, the two said.

The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday it will grant $445 million for fiscal year 2007 to protect critical infrastructure, including ports and transit systems.

Highway Watch Report Leads to Arrest • McMurray Named FMCSA’s Chief Safety Officer • Mass. Trucking Company Files Complaint Against FMCSA • Survey Cites Drivers’ HOS Compliance Concerns • And more...

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said late Tuesday that it will announce a proposed rule regarding electronic on-board recorders for commercial trucks and buses on Thursday morning.

The American Transportation Research Institute issued a final call Tuesday for motor carrier safety data to measure the effects of the federal hours-of-service rule’s split sleeper-berth provisions.

Less-than-truckload carrier YRC Regional Transportation said late Monday that its USF Bestway and USF Reddaway units will consolidate into one organization under the USF Reddaway brand.

Several people who obtained commercial driver’s licenses from a southern Missouri trucking school gave false home addresses, and state officials acknowledge they currently have no way to stop the practice, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. freight railroads completed a record-breaking year in 2006, moving record numbers of carloads and intermodal containers, the Association of American Railroads said.

When Foodliner Inc., a liquid and dry-bulk carrier based in Dubuque, Iowa, put in a mobile communications system to track the location of its trucks and monitor the performance of its drivers, corporate controller Tom Stueck said he expected some resistance.