Safety

U.S. trucking bankruptcies reached a two-year high of 205 during the second quarter, nearly triple the failures in the corresponding period last year, as fleets battled steadily rising costs, according to a new report.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration shut down and fined three Chicago-area movers due to safety and consumer-protection violations.

Medical professionals and state driver licensing agencies objected to a proposal to require daily updates of commercial drivers’ physical exam information, telling federal regulators the system would be burdensome and costly.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it has given almost $1 million to six community colleges to train military veterans to drive commercial vehicles.

Federal officials said they are considering developing a program that would use truck drivers’ violation and inspection data to determine whether they are safe and take corrective action against unsafe ones.

The American Transportation Research Institute said Wednesday it has launched a commercial driver fatigue management website.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it will waive the new rest-break requirement for 90 days for truck drivers who are carrying live animals, because of the above-average temperatures forecast for the summer and fall in much of the United States.

So the latest chapter in the seemingly never-ending saga of the government’s road to a new hours-of-service rule for the nation’s truck drivers has begun, and we can all expect at least a 2% to 3% decline in productivity as a result.

Crashes such as the recent one in upstate New York where a trailer apparently separated from a tractor and struck a minivan with deadly consequences are rare, according to federal crash experts and investigators working on the case.

Surface trade among the United States, Canada and Mexico rose 7.5% in April from the same month last year and increased 2.4% from March, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday.