It is that time of year again.  I get to write this to you from the Green Mountains in Vermont.  The trip here makes me realize just how long I have been at this trucking stuff.  I look at all of the trucks on the road traveling up Interstate 95 and 91 and realize that I know more about some of those companies than the driver does.  It is wonderful to take some time off and enjoy family vacation time. I hope you all get a chance to do so. 

This month we report:

INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING AND THE SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BILL –  U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that there was $17 billion in loans available for critical infrastructure projects across the country now that the surface transportation bill has been passed. The recently enacted surface transportation bill, known as MAP-21, provided $1.7 billion in capital over two years for the TIFIA credit assistance program, up from $120 million in 2012, making it the largest transportation infrastructure finance fund in the Department’s history. The DOT also announced the establishment of the Project Finance Center (PFC) to help state and local government project sponsors analyze financial options for highway, transit, rail, intermodal and other surface transportation projects facing funding challenges.

GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS IMPACTING JOB CREATION? – Who would have thought that could be the case?  The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released its report titled “Continuing Oversight of Regulatory Impediments to Job Creation: Job Creators Still Buried by Red Tape” The study commented that following regulations may be problematic and impact job creation:

• Hours of Service

• Duplicative CDL background checks and credentialing for hazardous materials drivers

• A broaden definition of a tank truck

• A rule that requires truckers to submit a copy of their annual biennial medical certificate to the state agency that issues their CDL

• A rule that requires carriers to review every driver’s motor vehicle record annually to ensure that they are safe and qualified to continue driving despite the fact that many trucking companies review their drivers’ record, anyway, every time they received a driving violation.

• CSA

• Expectation of a proposed rule for judging safety for motor carriers.

• EOBR mandate

• Proposed electronic stability control rulemaking for heavy trucks, and

• A heavy vehicle speed limiter proposed rule.

HOURS OF SERVICE – The hours of service rules continue to be attacked. This month one coalition filed a brief seeking to vacate 2 elements of the rules – the 34 hour restart and the 11 hour driving limit.  The group claims that the FMSCA has repeatedly ignored a Congressional mandate to adopt Hours of Service rules that reduce driver fatigue, increase highway safety and protect driver health by adopting a rule that allows more weekly driving hours.

DRIVER DATABASE – The FMCSA is getting hit from all sides this month. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has brought suit alleging that the database of driver information lacks assurance of accuracy and a functioning process for dispute resolution. The lawsuit asks the court to order FMCSA to purge all data for which there has not been a judicial determination of guilt; purge all reports where a court has dismissed or ruled the driver not guilty; purge all reports that are not “serious driver-related violation(s)”; enjoin the agency from distributing information without any reference to a dispute and a summary of the dispute; and enjoin the agency from distributing false, inaccurate, incomplete or misleading inspection reports.

SMS METHODOLOGY – Another group has filed suit against the FMCSA seeking review of the regulator’s “New Resources Available for Shippers, Brokers, and Insurers”. They allege that the publication is a “bureaucratic overreach without process.”  They claim that the publication seeks to transfer the obligation to evaluate the safety of carriers to shippers, brokers and insurers, rather than to the FMCSA. These groups take the position that the current SMS methodology inappropriately brands safe motor carriers.

In other news, the FMCSA announced a review of crash weighting which is a pivotal issue in the CSA controversy.  Currently, all crashes, whether a motor carrier is at fault or not, count against the carrier in scores derived from data in the CSA safety measurement system. The agency will “analyze a process” for updating the state-reported crash records it receives to include a determination of a motor carrier’s role in a crash. The agency expects to release the results of the study in the summer of 2013. Read More

Another summer – but this time we get to spend it on the Jersey Shore!   No longer stuck in endless traffic we have even more time to create new little secrets to be found in the website.  We hope you take some time to enjoy some fun in the sun. I have been remiss in not welcoming the many new subscribers we have to our Premium Subscription.  The list has grown so much over the last few months and we welcome you all to CAB and look forward to getting to know you all.

FROM CAB’S LAB™ – As promised, we return this month to report on the latest website features and enhancements released this month.

Design your own Submission Report™: Our Submission Report™ started out as a 2 page, PDF report with only a few sections when it was launched 5 years ago. Today, there are 6 tabs and over 25 different sections that are available on the report. This does not even include all the sub-reports that can be loaded up and drilled-down into. While we believe all the information included in the report is relevant to the entity’s operation, different users of our site may have different needs as it pertains to their specific roles and operations. To help users process the information most critical to them as efficiently as possible, we now offer subscribers the tools to customize which sections will be included in their default view of the Submission Report™. Using these tools, subscribers will have the ability to choose which tabs and sections should be displayed when viewing the Submission Report™ online, when downloading or receiving the automatic PDF by email and when scheduling a report to be sent to you on an automatic frequency. To access these options, log in to your account on CAB’s subscriber site, hover your mouse over ‘My Account’ on the menu bar and choose ‘Preferences’. On the Preferences page, you will now see  “Submissions Report™ Format:“. Clicking on the any of the three icons that follow will allow you to customize which sections will be displayed in the respective reports. Please note: if you do choose a custom format for the website version of the Submission Report, you will have the option of switching between your custom view and the standard, complete Submission Report with all the sections. As always, you can download our updated User Guide for details on changing your settings.

In the news this month we report:

NEW STATUTES – The States are continuing the focus of getting unsafe carriers off the road and punishing unsafe truck operations.  This month Louisiana enacted legislation targeting carriers who violate out of service orders.   A driver will now see his license suspended for 6 months for violating out of service rules and repeat offenses within 10 years would result in loss of driving privileges for two years. Louisiana also moved to prohibit texting while driving any vehicle. The National Safety Council reports that driver distractions, as well as alcohol and speeding, are leading factors in serious injury crashes. At least 28 percent of all traffic crashes – or at least 1.6 million crashes – involve cell phone use with an additional 200,000 crashes annually involving drivers who are texting.

Ohio also signed into law a bill prohibiting drivers from sending text messages while driving, although it is a secondary offense (meaning you have to be stopped for something else).  Alabama, Idaho and West Virginia already acted this year to prohibit drivers from text messaging while at the wheel. The Idaho and West Virginia bans take effect July 1. The Alabama law takes effect Aug. 1. Similar bills are currently waiting signature in Illinois and New Jersey has a number of bills moving quickly through the system.

INTERMODAL CONTAINERS – The FMCSA has modified its equipment reporting requirements.  The newest regulation eliminates the requirement for drivers to complete clean inspections and for intermodal chassis providers to file and retain the clean inspection reports.  Reports will only be required for intermodal containers which reflect damages. The FMCSA has also indicated that inspection violations which are directed to the equipment provider will not be held against the motor carrier in evaluating crash accountability.

CHAMELEON CARRIER™ REPORTS – This month the FMCSA issued an out-of-service order and record consolidation order against WTSA US Express LLC, TJA Express Transportation and Wolf Trucking Company LLC, all listed at the same address in Racine, WI. According to the FMCSA’s order, WTSA US Express was closed down and deactivated by its owner, Tadeusz Wrzesniewski, and his son Adrian Wrzesniewski, in order to avoid submitting to a mandatory safety review.  TJA Express was created as a true Chameleon Carrier™ to replace WTSA. In between the same individuals started up Wolf Trucking as a hedge against FMCSA actions.  A separate out-of-service order was issued to Adrian Wrzesniewski for failing to “monitor drivers’ hours of service requirements, violations of drivers’ qualification requirements, commercial drivers’ licensing requirements and the controlled substance and alcohol testing requirements.”

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