Safety

The government of Ontario has resurrected a plan to make speed limiters mandating maximum mandatory truck speeds at about 65 miles per hour in the province, according to the Ontario trucking Association, which backs the plan.

The trucking industry is part of a grand environmental experiment being conducted in British Columbia — the first North American jurisdiction to introduce a carbon tax on all fossil fuels, including diesel, at the retail level.

American Trucking Associations and the Partnership for Uniform Marketing Practices recently requested that California prohibit the use of automatic temperature compensation equipment in retail fuel sales.

An effort by rail carriers to reduce the amount of toxic chemicals they haul is creating new business for some trucking companies.

American Trucking Associations asked President Bush in a letter this week to help “burst the bubble in the crude oil market” by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The Opinion column by John Hausladen, “Be Ready to Explain Your SAFER Scores,” is an excellent reminder to fleets about how important the Safety and Fitness Electronic Record System score is — and, how it can be misinterpreted by those uninformed about the industry.

A recent Transportation Department report said work on several key new regulations has fallen behind schedule, including shorter stopping distance for heavy trucks, safety reviews of new trucking companies, medical certification of drivers and a new registration system.

The New Hampshire House voted Tuesday to make it illegal for drivers to send text messages on cell phones or type on laptop computers or other electronic devices, the Associated Press reported.

Forward Air Corp. said Tuesday it closed a deal, first announced last week, to buy transportation firm Pinch Holdings and a related company, AFTCO Enterprises, for an undisclosed sum.