Company A had a load to be moved, but no power unit available, so it offered the load to Company B and a deal was struck. Company B's power unit hooked up to company A's trailer and headed off to the consignee. The unit was then involved in a serious accident, due to the negligence of Company B's driver, resulting in $1.7 million dollars in damages.... Read More

That's what 37 year old Laura Leath will tell you, despite some challenges she has had to overcome. Laura recently completed her tractor-trailer training and earned her CDL at West Georgia Technical College in LaGrange, Georgia. She had a full time job offer from Fastenal Company before she'd completed the course.... Read More

This article was originally posted on the Eco-Scientific web site by Paul Kauler, a self-described independent consultant, truck driver, diesel mechanic, avid student of life sciences and cancer research technician.... Read More

"So, round and around and around we go,
Where the world's headed, nobody knows
Oh, Great Googamooga,
Can't you hear me talking to you,
Just a ball of confusion,
That's what the world is today, hey."
-The Temptations

Background

In 1995, Congress directed the Department of Transportation to establish new Hours of Service rules which had been in place unchanged since 1939. Since that time, confusion and uncertainty has been the status quo. In 2004, the DOT published new rules which were promptly subject to a legal challenge. After a reversal by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, in August 2005, the DOT issued new rules limiting a driver's flexibility in use for the sleeper berth. Again in 2007, the rule was reversed by the courts on procedural grounds. In December, 2007 the DOT issued the rule addressing the procedural issues, which became final in November 2008. In March 2009, litigation again ensued and in October 2009, officials newly appointed by the Obama administration entered into a settlement agreement wherein the DOT agreed to reconsider and reissue the rules. As a result, in late 2010 the DOT issued a new proposed rule to be adopted, and no doubt followed by more litigation, in 2011.... Read More

The long awaited Hours of Service changes have been announced. FMCSA has published the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. We're devoting this issue to analyzing the changes and some of the possible effects. The bottom line is that work hours have been cut and some of the scheduling flexibility of the current regulations are now gone.... Read More

Preserving evidence in the event of an accident is crucial to minimizing one's liability exposure. This is Part 9 in a nine part series of related discussions. The full list of the parts to this series appears following this installment.

Part 9 - The Impact of Failure to Preserve Evidence... Read More

Without a doubt the roll out of CSA2010 has been a big story this year. The program has redefined how FMCSA will analyze data relating to both carriers and drivers. Probably the most unique aspect of CSA2010 is that it tracks driver specific information, which is then made available to prospective employers.... Read More

Robert Arbasetti is CEO of Prime Lube, Inc., one of the largest distributors of Chevron and ExxonMobil lubricants, diesel fuel and anti-freeze in the United States. Robert is currently responsible for leading new business development and strategic ventures for the company, including the recent addition of its BlueSky diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) manufacturing capacity.... Read More

This blog post was originally posted to the Public Policy & Sustainability Blog by Doug Stotlar, president and chief executive officer of Con-way Inc. Stotlar, along with Tommy Hodges, chairman of American Trucking Associations, and other industry executives joined President Obama at a Rose Garden signing ceremony earlier this year that laid the groundwork for new fuel efficiency standards for the trucking industry. ... Read More

Many companies encourage their employees to report any “near misses” they experience while driving. I hate the phrase “near miss”. Doesn't “near miss” mean they almost missed and therefore did hit? For that reason, I'm going to use “near collision” instead of “near miss”. By getting employees to report close calls, the belief is that identification and discussion of these incidents can help to improve driving performance and reduce future collision potential.... Read More