Hopefully you are all busy reading the full year report which was sent to you a few days ago. That is the most up to date information so we will keep this one very short and address only the little news and cases which have come up in the last few weeks.

TRUCK FATALITIES – The FHWA has reported that truck involved fatality rates declined 12.3 percent to 1.86 per 100 million miles in 2008. It is the largest year to year drop and the fifth consecutive year showing a reduction in numbers.  There was an 11 percent reduction in folks injured in large truck crashes, down to 39.6 per 100 million. The FHWA also reports that total vehicles traveled by truck increased in 2008 to 227.45 billion miles

DRIVER TEXTING – U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s announced this month that text messaging behind the wheel is prohibited for commercial drivers effective immediately. Although the safety regulations do not specifically address texting,  LaHood has stated that since the safety regulations do prohibit the use of equipment or accessories that decrease safety during the operation of a commercial vehicle, it can apply to texting. Section 390.17 of the safety regulations does apply to electronic devices that send and receive text messages. Read More

Here we are at the end of the year again  We hope you are all enjoying the holiday season as much as we are. It is amazing how quiet it gets in this industry at this time of the year. Is anyone working?  Our year in review will be coming in January so we will keep this short.

DRIVER INSPECTION REPORTS – The FMCSA has delayed implementation of driver inspection reports required under the agency’s new regulations for intermodal chassis.  The deadline for having a process to handle reports has been pushed to June, 2010, although all other rules went into effect December 17, 2009.

CONGRESSIONAL MOVES – Before departing for any holiday break, Congress approved more than $40 billion in new highway spending for 2010.  They also approved a truck-weight exemption which allows trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds to use interstate high-ways in Maine and Vermont. They also dropped the prohibition for funding the federal pilot program allowing trucking across the U.S./Mexico border. Of course as the program is no longer in place funding it is not important. Read More