The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced it has shut down two separate trucking companies; both were issued imminent hazard out-of-service orders for various violations.

According to FMCSA, GEG Construction, Inc., based in Indian Orchard, Mass. was placed out of service because it failed to have a system in place requiring drivers to conduct a proper vehicle inspection. The carrier also failed to conduct proper repairs and maintenance on its vehicles. The fleet even operat...

A recent lawsuit reguarding DataQ challenges was filed by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) on behalf of its members and resulted in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreeing to hear the case. The ruling allows the association to file a federal district court challenge.

The case was filed because the OOIDA’s claims that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) refuses to remove certain safety events from its Safety M...

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has increased its efforts over the last year aimed at closing down unsafe trucking companies. Statistics show the number of imminent-hazard out-of-service orders issued has increased by nearly five.  10 to 48 – in imminent-hazard out-of-service orders issued from fiscal 2011 to fiscal 2012.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: http://www.etrucker.com/ccj/crackdown-fmcsas-putting-extra-muscle-into-shutting-down-truck-fleets

If your company does not...

Troopers and other Law Enforcement Officers are gearing up to start Operation Roadcheck 2013. The operation starts June 4 and continues through June 6. The annual three-day roadside commercial vehicle safety “blitz” will focus this year on cargo securement and changes in hours of service regulations. The event is organized by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, This operation involves thousands of CVSA-certified local, state and federal commercial vehicle inspections across North Am...

Federal and State investigators are looking into another trucking company in North Carolina after a fatal collision. Hopefully the owner of this trucking company has complied with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and has a proper and complete Driver Qualification File on hand. "The job is not done unless the paperwork is complete". This is one of the first things the investigators will request and review in an investigation such as this. As an OWNER of Trucking Company, it is your...

You may not be telling your drivers to falsify their logs but are you checking their log books to insure they are completing them correctly?  Does your company have a current Policy relating to this? This article is just one more reason why every company employing commercial drivers must have a company policy in place for its drivers as well as a process for checking behind drivers and insuring they are complying with FMCSA Regulations concerning hours of service.

http://fleetowner.com/regul...

TruckingInfo.com; Monday, December 17, 2012

DOT Orders Two Dayes Transport to Shut Down.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ordered Two Dayes Trucking and Two Dayes Transport, based in Murfreesboro, N.C.,
to immediately cease all transportation services due to a pattern of serious safety violations that pose an imminent hazard to public safety.
Agency investigators found the companies, which generally transport recycled steel and roofing shingles, and two of their drivers, had
d...

Trucking firm DC Transport in Interstate 70 fatal crash evades feds’ probe 

Byline: Tom Fontaine 

Federal investigators scrutinizing the company that employed a California trucker charged in a fatal Washington County crash might be chasing a shadow, police and trucking experts say.

“There is some concern about this being a chameleon carrier. That’s what the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is trying to uncover,” said state police Lt. Ray Cook, director of the bureau�...

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will on Tuesday publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that gives the agency the ability to more quickly shut down carriers chameleon carriers.

The NPRM says the agency is targeting carriers which have “egregious” disregard for safety compliance, which permit persons who have shown egregious disregard for safety compliance to exercise controlling influence over their operations or which operate multiple entities under common control to...

Robert L. Rode of the Rode Law Firm cites out-of-service order declaring Kansas company knowingly dispatched truck drivers ‘in a potentially fatigued or excessively fatigued condition.’ 

Tulsa, OK (PRWEB) September 28, 2012 Oklahoma truck accident attorney Robert L. Rode said today the federal order that took two Kansas-based trucking firms out of service is a strong sign of how often truck drivers on our nation’s roads are likely to be fatigued or otherwise overworked. 

“The out-of...

Distracted driving was cited as a contributing factor in nearly 10% of all fatal crashes in 2010, while that number nearly doubles (to 18%) for crashes where individuals were injured, according to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The report studied all vehicle crashes in 2010, analyzing how influential distracted driving behaviors were in those crashes. (NHTSA notes that the numbers reported for 2010 should not be compared to the data collected for 2009, as the...

KANSAS CITY, KS  -- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has deemed a 78-truck Kansas City general freight carrier an imminent hazard to the public and has shut it down.

According to a statement from the FMCSA, a thorough review of HPs’s operations uncovered extensive hours-of-service violations.

Investigators learned that HP let drivers falsi...

New entrants to trucking will face a shorter deadline for correcting problems in their applications, under a new policy by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

 Applicants for authority have to clear a safety audit. If the would-be carrier does not pass, it must show that it is taking action to fix the problem.

 Under the agency's new policy the applicant must submit its corrective action plan with 15 days of the audit.

 Some violations require expedited action by the applic...

Byline: Deborah Whistler, Fleet Owner

 OSHA has ordered Georgia-based Interline Logistics Corp. to rehire a whistle-blowing Sauk Village, IL, driver who reported that his truck had brake problems and was ordered by the company to take the rig to the shop in violation of federal hours of service regulations.

 According to OSHA investigators, a dispatcher told the driver to take the truck to a repair shop. He refused, stating that doing so would force him to work more hours than Dept. of T...

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has identified nearly 300 commercial truck and bus drivers who continued driving after testing positive for drugs or alcohol.The IDs were made during the FMCSA's annual "Drug and Alcohol Inspection Strike Force" and the drivers were ordered off the road.

In addition to citing 287 drivers, the FMCSA instituted enforcement actions against 128 companies for allegedly failing to adhere to federal drug and alcohol rules.

An FMCSA official, speaking o...

Byline: Don Jerrell, Contributor

HNI recently held a workshop called FMCSA Safety Audit Requirements and How to Prepare, featuring FMCSA and Wisconsin State Patrol officials talking about new policies and procedures in place. It was brought to our attention that not only is FMCSA's auditing process changing, but so are the techniques used by the auditors.

With CSA being the most common reason for a visit from FMCSA, most carriers will not receive a "full compliance review" but instead w...

On July 11, 2012, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Deputy Administrator Bill Bronrott testified about the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program before the U.S. House of Representative’s Committee on Small Business. Deputy Bronrott’s written testimony discusses CSA’s safety benefits and its impact on small businesses, and is posted on FMCSA’s Website. Some of the key points of the testimony are listed below:

• Independent analysis indicates the CSA Safety...

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Thursday, July 12, 2012

By Katie Leslie

The trucking company involved in a wreck that killed an 8-year-old Decatur boy and severely injured his mother Wednesday has been flagged by federal transportation officials for a history of unsafe practices.

CW Transport LLC, a small trash-hauling fleet based in Atlanta, has so many vehicle maintenance violations that it ranks among the worst 6 percent of companies its size across the country, federal records s...

Two Kansas State University civil engineers are working to make Kansas roads and highways safer by reducing the number and severity of vehicular crashes that involve large, cargo-carrying trucks.

Sunanda Dissanayake, associate professor of civil engineering, and Siddhartha Kotikalapudi, master's student in civil engineering, India, are looking at five years' worth of statistics about crashes involving commercial trucks. Although large trucks account for just 3% of registered vehicles in the ...

Thousands of commercial trucks flow through Arkansas every day, but what the public may not realize is that a large percentage of those behind the wheel suffer from a condition that could put others at risk. You can hear the report from FM 89's Beth McEvoy above.

Wanda Lindsay is on a mission to educate others about the dangers of sleep apnea in the trucking industry. She is also working to draft legislation that would force trucking companies to implement programs for drivers with the disor...

What can carriers learn from a recent $24-million judgment against Coca-Cola?

Byline: James Menzies

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A ban on the use of handheld cell phones by commercial drivers in the US, passed earlier this year, exposes motor carriers to even greater liability should their drivers ignore the law and be involved in a crash.

The federal law, passed Jan. 3., prohibits commercial truck drivers from using handheld cell phones while driving. The law still allows hands-free devices to be...

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Monday, June 25, announced that 287 commercial bus and truck drivers were removed from the roads and 128 companies face enforcement actions as a result of the agency’s annual drug and alcohol strike force sweep that occurred from April 30 through May 11.

”Our message is clear – we will not allow commercial bus and truck drivers operating under the influence of drugs and alcohol to stay on the road,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary...

Smithfield (North Carolina) Herald News Observer; Saturday, June 23, 2012 

Photo caption: State trooper Jack Clark checks underneath a truck on Tuesday during a checkpoint inspection.

ccampbell@newsobserver.com

BENSON - A trip through Johnston County on Interstate 40 took a bit longer than usual for truckers on Tuesday and Wednesday.

As traffic approached the two rest areas north of Benson, flashing orange signs directed all trucks to pull off into the parking lot. State troopers lined t...

This week the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) will place special enforcement emphasis on the addition of tow trucks to the Move Over/Slow Down law, which requires motorists to move over or slow down when certain vehicles are stopped on the side of the road with emergency lights activated. To remind the public of this important safety measure, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will activate electronic signs this week, which will read: If Tow Truck Stopped Ahead, Move Over ...

BELLEVUE, Wash. - Nearly two months after announcing an indefinite delay of a much-anticipated process to assess and assign fault on operators' safety records for bus- and truck-related crashes, the head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says the agency has begun to answer critical questions about the issue.

FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro said her agency is studying concerns over the reliability of police accident reports and other issues related to the federal Compliance, ...

TAMPA, Fla. — Insurance underwriters for trucking are concerned about the federal Compliance, Safety, Accountability program but are not sure about how to deal with it, an insurance agent told trucking executives meeting here.

In a June 12 session at the National Accounting & Finance Council meeting here, a CSA analyst and industry vendor said he worries the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is using CSA to move toward direct intervention with company drivers, perhaps even liftin...

Photo caption: Officer Ben Maplethorpe (left) and his colleague Officer Mik Laird of the Arlington Police Department work with Virginia State Trooper John Wolford at a joint vehicle inspection effort at E. C. Lawrence Park involving nine local law enforcement agencies on May 31. During the effort, 110 trucks were inspected, 288 infractions were found putting 40 out of service. Deborah F. Cobb  

At first glance, it looked like a big-rig parade, with large commercial trucks lined up one behind...

Just two weeks after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration was given new authority to go after reincarnated carriers, the agency is already cracking down on those who close up operations and reopen under a new name to skirt enforcement action.

On June 7, the FMCSA issued an out-of-service order and record consolidation order under §386.73 against WTSA US Express LLC, TJA Express Transportation and Wolf Trucking Company LLC, all listed at the same address in Racine, WI.

According ...

PRINCETON, N.J. — As mobile phones with transportation apps become more common in truck cabs, carriers face a growing safety and compliance challenge — making sure that their drivers aren’t using the devices while they’re on the road.

One way for fleets to address distracted driving is to track drivers’ phone use so they can see who is a risk, Matthew Howard, CEO and co-founder of ZoomSafer, said May 17 at the ALK Transportation Technology summit here.

“We can manage this becaus...

Charlotte- The NC Highway Patrol kicked off a new anti-texting campaign at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sunday.

Colonel Michael Gilchrist announced the "No Texting, Just Driving" educational awareness campaign.

He says the campaign is designed to educate drivers on the dangers of distracted driving, especially texting.  The campaign is especially geared toward teen drivers.

"The Highway Patrol is committed to saving lives on our North Carolina Highways, said Gilchrist, "We intend to educa...

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ordered Texas-based Denny Mekenye, doing business as Demco Express and Demco Trans Inc. to immediately cease all transportation services based on serious safety violations that posed an imminent hazard to public safety.

FMCSA uncovered multiple federal safety violations in the areas of drivers' hours-of-service compliance, driver qualifications and drug testing requirements.

Safety investigators discovered t...

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it will not require drivers who transport storage container tanks that are empty or contain residue to obtain tank truck hazardous materials endorsements.

The agency on Thursday responded in part to industry concerns that the existing definition of tank trucks could have a “dramatic impact” on the number of drivers required to have tank vehicle endorsements.

FMCSA agreed last month to consider a petition filed by American Trucking As...

Byline: David Tanner, Land Line associate editor

If you don’t have a tanker endorsement already, you might consider obtaining one. Besides being handy for business, it could help you avoid penalties if you haul certain types of fluid bins. Why now? Some states may already be enforcing an expanded definition of “tank vehicle” that now applies to vehicles hauling an aggregate of 1,000 gallons in containers of 119 gallons or larger.

It’s quite possible that you run in a state, or wi...

An Athens-based trucking company has been ordered to cease operations by the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

The decision to shut down BM&L Trucking, LLC, was based on serious safety violations “that posed an imminent hazard to public safety,” according to a release from the DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

In addition to naming BM&L, the order also individually names Isaac McWilliams, Heronda McWilliams and IDM Transportation, Inc. An online trucking directory ...

WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) ordered Alabama-based BM&L Trucking, LLC, affiliated company IDM Transportation, Inc. and its owners to immediately cease all transportation services based on serious safety violations that posed an imminent hazard to public safety.
The shutdown order follows FMCSA’s extensive review of BM&L Trucking’s operations, which found multiple federal safety violations in the areas of hours...

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ordered Georgia-based Judson Mobley Logging to immediately cease all transportation services, declaring the truck company an imminent hazard to public safety. 

The shutdown order follows an extensive review of the three-truck company's operations by FMCSA, which found multiple violations of drug and alcohol testing, driver qualifications and vehicle maintenance rules. 

On April 30. 2012, a logging tractor-trailer being operated by Judson cras...

Byline: Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor

Federal safety data indicate that carrier registrations have jumped by 7.5% over the past 14 months, possibly reflecting a move by drivers to go into business for themselves, according to an analysis by QualifiedCarriers, a risk management services provider to shippers.

The number of active, for-hire carriers counted in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's CSA database jumped from 155,240 in February 2011 to 166,810 in April 2012, th...

American Trucking Associations’ leaders expressed serious concern over the recent decision by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to continue to hold the trucking industry responsible in its CSA program for every truck-involved crash, including those which the truck driver could not have prevented. 

ATA, and other industry groups, had requested—and FMCSA had agreed to develop—a process where police accident reports would be reviewed to determine crash accountability and rem...

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Wednesday, April 25, announced its final rule amending its rules of practice for motor carrier, intermodal equipment provider, broker, freight forwarder and hazardous materials proceedings. 

The agency’s final rule clarifies that paying the full proposed civil penalty in an enforcement proceeding, either in response to a Notice of Claim (NOC) or later in the proceeding, does not allow respondents to unilaterally avoid an admission of liabi...

Mark your calendars. The CVSA Roadcheck 2012 is scheduled for June 5-7. The annual inspection event is the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s 72-hour safety blitz.  

CVSA sponsors Roadcheck with participation by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, Transport Canada, and the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (Mexico).

Roadcheck is the largest targeted enf...

The Department of Transportation will seek assistance from state agencies in a study of the safety performance of overweight heavy trucks — those that run heavy both with permits and those that run overweight illegally.

While details of the study remain unclear, DOT said earlier this month the study is a joint project of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Federal Highway Administration — both DOT agencies — to collect safety data from roadside inspections to “det...

Byline: Larry Copeland, USA TODAY

Distracted driving has emerged over the past five years as perhaps the top road safety priority in the USA. April is National Distracted Driving Awareness month.

Most attention has focused on individual drivers, especially young ones. Now, many businesses — concerned about liability issues in the face of new laws and the impact of distraction-related crashes on their bottom line — are beginning to develop policies for their fleet drivers.

A ne...

Sixty-five percent of surveyed carriers are utilizing 3 or more methods to comply with the regulations of CSA 2010, according to Transport Capital Partners’ First Quarter 2012 Business Expectations Survey.

Not only are more carriers taking steps to comply with CSA regulations, 65 percent are utilizing three or more methods, so finds Transport Capital Partners’ First Quarter 2012 Business Expectations Survey.