For those of you celebrating the Christmas holiday, we hope Santa brought you everything you were asking for.  Christmas in the middle of the week really throws everything off and the general consensus from those we have spoken to is that it becomes a two week lull.  Hopefully the New Year will put us all back on track.  It was a fairly quiet month this December as the country, expect for those dealing with all of the weather issues throughout the country, settled in for the winter break.  We hope you fared well if you are located in one of those hard hit areas.

There is great interest in our webinar training sessions. So in January we will again offer our CAB Basics session, which is an hour long and will include an overview of our new features as well as a refresher of the features and navigation of the CAB website.  We will also offer a focus session in December and this month the subject will be using the CAB Report to understand the area of operations of a motor carrier. We would like your feedback on topics for future focus sessions or any other comments on our training options.  Please email us by clicking here with the topics you would like us to cover or other comments. To register for this month’s sessions click on the following:

Jan. 14^th 3:00 EST – CAB Basic:   https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/864655784

Jan. 15^th 3:00 EST – CAB Focus:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/882729089

This month we report:

OPERATION QUICK STRIKE – The FMCSA announced that 52 companies and 340 vehicles were ordered out of services following Operation Quick Strike, an eight-month intensified effort to shut down unsafe motorcoach companies. The enforcement campaign began in April and concluded in November. This was part of a 3 phrase program to raise safety standards. The agency reported that:

• 214 top-to-bottom compliance investigations were completed (More than 30 companies had since transitioned to intrastate-only service, which FMCSA does not regulate, or had gone out of business, the release noted.  Be careful because you still insure that exposure);
• 20 motorcoach companies were immediately shut down for violations and posing an imminent hazard to the public; 
• 32 companies were issued “Unsatisfactory” safety ratings and shut down after failing to remedy critical and acute violations; 
• 28 companies took corrective action to fix the safety violations investigators uncovered to avoid being shut down; and
• 340 vehicles, of the more than 1,300 vehicles that were inspected during the investigations, were put out of service for safety and maintenance violations.

BROKER BONDS – The increase to $75,000 for broker bonds has gone into effect and the FMCSA is moving quickly to address brokers with inadequate limits.  We expect an increasing number of out of service orders this month for brokers not in compliance with the $75,000 requirement.

DRIVER TURNOVER RATES – The ATA reports that the annualized driver turnover rate at large truckload fleets dipped two percentage points to 97 percent in the third quarter of this year. Turnover at truckload fleets with less than $30 million in annual revenue dropped eight points to 74 percent, its lowest level since the first quarter of 2012. Turnover at less-than-truckload fleets jumped seven percentage points to 13 percent in the quarter – the highest level since the first quarter of this year.

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Hopefully you have woken from your turkey coma and are back at the job.  A recent study I read indicated that we are most productive at 10:00 a.m. on Monday morning. After that it all goes downhill.  So hopefully this report coincides with your productive moment, or at least your coffee break.  In any event, we hope you all enjoyed the Thanksgiving break.

We are gratified that so many of you have been taking the time to attend our training webinars to learn how the CABAdvantage can work for you. In December we will again offer our CAB Basics session, which is an hour long and will include an overview of our new features as well as a refresher of the features and navigation of the CAB website.  We will also offer a focus session in December and this month the subject will be VITAL. We would like your feedback on topics for future focus sessions or any other comments on our training options.  Please email us by clicking here with the topics you would like us to cover or other comments. To register for this month’s sessions click on the following:

CAB Basic Training- December 11th at 3:00 EST:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/331222697

CAB Focus – VITAL December 12th at 3:00 EST:  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/511866488

This month we report:

FMCSA CRASH STUDY– According to the FMCSA crash study for the year 2011, truck accidents occur most often during the day, midweek and in good weather.  Truck crashes have increased 3% to 3,608.  Speeding tops the list of driver-related factors assigned to the drivers of large trucks in fatal crashes at a high 7.9 percent of all driver-related factors.  The majority of fatal crashes, more than 97 percent, happened on two-way roads and 81.9 percent happened on roads with a posted speed limit of 65 mph or lower. Fatalities among pedestrians also increased, mostly in urban areas, at non-intersections, and at night.  Thirteen states and the District of Columbia experienced reductions in overall traffic fatalities, led by Mississippi (48 fewer), New Jersey (38), Georgia (34), Alabama (30) and Utah (26). In addition, 18 states and Washington D.C. showed decreases in drunk driving deaths. New Jersey had the greatest decrease (30 fewer) followed by Colorado (27), Utah (20), Oklahoma (17) and Virginia (17). A copy of the report can be viewed here.

HOS ATTACKS – The attacks on the new hour of service rules continue, with the DOT in the line of fire at recent hearings considering whether the rules should be suspended pending further review.  A recent OOIDA survey concluded that that respondents say they are more fatigued, more stressed, have less flexibility, make less money, and find parking even more difficult than before.  An American Transportation Research Institute study on the issue was also released this month.  Accordingly to the ATRI almost half of the drivers who responded to the survey said they have been severely impacted by the once a week and 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. provisions. Among the other operational and economic impacts identified by ATRI are:

•        Among commercial drivers surveyed by ATRI, 82.5 percent indicated that the new HOS rules have had a negative impact on their quality of life, with more than 66 percent indicating increased levels of fatigue.

•        Commercial drivers are forced to drive in more congested time periods, although the FMCSA Regulatory Impact Analysis did not address increased safety risks with truck traffic diversion to peak hour traffic.

•        The majority of drivers (67 percent) report decreases in pay since the rules took effect.

•        The impacts on driver wages for all over-the-road drivers total $1.6 billion to $3.9 billion in annualized loss.

Legislation has been proposed to suspend the rules, and the FMCSA indicated that it might consider such a request.  This appears to be a hot topic for the end of the year. Read More