Category: Transportation

Drive Safe

NIOSH Reveals Keys for Improving Driver, Fleet Safety

Corporate fleet safety management practices like driver training, fatigue risk management, in-vehicle monitoring systems (IVMSs), and strong mobile phone policies can reduce the number and severity of motor vehicle crashes, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found in recently published research.

Truck on the road

FMCSA Extends and Modifies COVID-19 Emergency Declaration

The Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) extended but narrowed trucking regulation exemptions under its coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency declaration. Deputy Administrator Jim Murren extended the exemptions for 50 states and the District of Columbia to July 14.

Vehicle emissions

Attorneys General Take Trump Administration to Court on Rollback of Passenger Vehicle Emissions Standards

On May 27, 2020, 23 attorneys general and a handful of city attorneys filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles (SAFE) rules revising extant fuel efficiency and emissions standards for passenger vehicles. SAFE effectively undoes President Barack Obama’s 2010 Clean Car Standards (CCS), which set forth aggressive fuel economy and greenhouse […]

FMCSA Issues Final Rule Amending Hours of Service

The Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released a final rule amending the hours of service regulations for commercial motor vehicle drivers. The amendments expand the driving window for both short-haul and long-haul drivers.

Truck driving

CDC Provides Truckers with COVID-19 Guidelines

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have issued guidelines for long-haul truckers concerned about their health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidelines cover both steps truckers can take themselves and practices employers should adopt to protect the health and safety of their employees.

An Interesting EPA Enforcement Target: Vehicle Defeat Devices

In June 2019, the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance announced its six National Compliance Initiatives (NCIs) for fiscal years 2020 through 2023. Before the Trump administration, the Agency referred to this program as its National Enforcement Initiatives. Regardless of the title, the program identifies sectors or types of activities that are in need […]

Truck accident

FMCSA Data May Begin Excluding Unpreventable Crashes

Drivers and motor carriers may ask the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to strike records of “not preventable” crashes from the agency’s statistics. The agency announced its data-correction provisions, the Crash Preventability Determination Program, in the May 6 Federal Register (85 FR 27017).

Vehicle emissions

Consumer Choice Factored Heavily into Vehicle Rule

According to the EPA and the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), ensuring that Americans can buy the types of cars and light trucks they prefer is at the heart of the EPA’s/NHTSA’s final rule amending and establishing carbon dioxide (CO2) and fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light trucks.

Trucks, truck drivers, trucking industry

COVID-19: FMCSA Expands Regulatory Relief to Licensing, Drug Testing

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has provided additional regulatory relief in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. New steps taken by FMCSA include temporarily allowing drivers with expired Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs) to continue operating commercial motor vehicles (CMVs), allowing drivers with Commercial Learner’s Permits (CLPs) to drive without an observer, and allowing employers […]

Semi Trucks

COVID-19: FMCSA Further Expands Hours of Service Relief

On March 19, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) expanded its Hours of Service exemptions for commercial motor vehicle drivers transporting personnel and supplies necessary to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.