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Feb 28, 2012

RULES & REGULATIONS * USA

* Arkansas - Double Whammy: Mandating Electronic Onboard Recorders Takes Two Routes

(Photo)
Little Rock,ARK,USA -EOBR for safety/Arkansas Trucking Report, by Lane Kidd -27 Feb 2012: -- Requiring an electronic onboard recorder (EOBR) in all commercial trucks could become a reality this year. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced that it wants to mandate their installation in virtually all trucks and buses within five years... Supporters of the EOBRs applaud the dual regulatory and legislative efforts, saying the current practice of paper log books allows drivers and their employers with ample opportunity to cheat and exceed their on-duty hours. They claim EOBRs will make these drivers and their employers abide by the rules and that will ensure rested drivers and fewer accidents, a fact now supported by research data showing that carriers having more hours-of-service violations also have more accidents... The Arkansas Trucking Association Board of Directors first voted to support an EOBR mandate on all commercial trucks. The American Trucking Associations is expected to announce its endorsement of an EOBR mandate later this spring...The Canadian Trucking Alliance is once again urging its members to support electronic onboard recorders...  However, not everyone in trucking supports a mandate. The Owner Operator Independent Driver Association (OOIDA) strongly opposes the mandate on a variety of grounds while some owners of smaller trucking companies fear that an EOBR mandate could put them out of business. OOIDA, representing independent contractors and owner/operators, said the rule won't improve highway safety and stacks the deck against tiny operators who can least afford the costs... But supporters point to a growing number of studies and antidotal evidence that truck drivers routinely exceed their maximum driving hours. A recent survey of about 1,400 long-haul drivers by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that one in eight had dozed at the wheel in the previous month. More than one in three had driven while sleepy in the previous week...


* DC - ATA says: ‘No Tanks’ to tank truck definition, who adds complexity and cost to shipping

(Photo: A Scania, tank truck)
Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William Cassidy -Feb 25, 2012: -- Not every truck carrying tanks of liquid or gas should be considered a “tank truck” and regulated in the same way as a bulk tank-trailer, a trucking group says... The American Trucking Associations wants federal truck safety regulators to change a new definition that expands the types of vehicles classified as tank trucks. The ATA asked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to amend a definition adopted last May that includes vehicles “patently not tank trucks” ... Question are tractors hauling dry van trailers containing empty or filled cylinders and intermediate bulk containers forliquids and gases, the ATA said Feb. 22. Under the new definition, those vehicles are tank trucks, even when the containers are only loaded and shipped once and unloaded with their contents still inside... The new definition includes all vehicles carrying tanks with more than 1,000 gallons of capacity, whether or not those tanks are temporarily or permanently attached. The definition should be changed to define tank trucks as vehicles with permanently attached tanks with an aggregate capacity of over 1,000 gallons, said the ATA...


*  DC - Trucking, rail groups call 'truce' over big trucks. ATA, AAR urge passage of House transportation bill as approved by T&I committee

Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Feb 10, 2012: -- The trucking and rail lobbies are calling a truce in their battle over truck size and weight limits, hoping a measure of intermodal unity will help push a controversial multi-year surface transportation bill through the House of Representatives... The bill originally included a provision allowing states to permit trucks weighing up to 97,000 pounds and triple-trailer combinations on highways. The current gross vehicle weight limit is 80,000 pounds, and use of triples is restricted to a few states... The AAR and rail suppliers, safety advocates, state police, Public Citizen, the Teamsters union and AAA responded with a political blitzkrieg. When the T and I committee approved the bill on Feb. 3, the trucking provision was gone... In its place, an amendment was added that would require a three-year study of the damage heavier trucks could cause to roads and bridges...

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