Trending Topics
Border
7 Key Trucking Items in New U.S. Highway Funding Law
WASHINGTON, D.C. - There are several items of importance to Canadian fleets and drivers who haul in United States in highway legislation passed by Congress and signed into law Friday by President Obama. Know as the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), it authorizes spending US$305 billion on highways and transit. But in trucking its likely better known for the special provisions that made into the new law - and those that didn't. Overall, the reaction from the various trucking groups, ranging from those representing fleets to drivers, has generally been positive. While many did not get everything they wanted in the new law, it marks the first time a federal highway funding bill longer than two years has been passed since 2005.
Diesel Prices Decline for Third Straight Week
LONDON, ON and WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Average diesel prices in both Canada and the U.S. have turned lower for the third consecutive week as oil prices could possibly head even lower while one nation's crude exports have returned to its highest level in decades.
U.S. Rules Against Driver Coercion to Soon Take Effect
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced new regulations that will take effect on Jan. 29, 2016 that it believes will help further safeguard commercial truck and bus drivers from being compelled to violate federal safety regulations. The rules over so-called driver coercion, provides FMCSA with the authority to take enforcement action not only against motor carriers, but also against shippers, receivers, and transportation intermediaries. The regulations address three key areas concerning driver coercion: procedures for commercial truck and bus drivers to report incidents of coercion to the FMCSA, steps the agency could take when responding to such allegations, and penalties of up to US$16,000 that may be imposed on entities found to have coerced drivers.
A CSA Fix is in the Wind
There's hope these days that one of the worst examples of safety legislation ever devised in the U.S. will get a makeover in the next year or so. That may be optimistic, but with a multi-year highway bill now almost through the Washington meat grinder, the Compliance, Safety and Accountability (CSA) program looks bound to change. One of the bill's many aims is one that would require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to rework its mighty flawed reporting regime. Common sense, that oh-so-rare feature of regulatory reality, may yet prevail. And that would be a boon to the thousands of Canadian carriers, drivers, and owner-operators who use American highways. Like their south-of-the-border counterparts, they might just see an end to what can frequently be wildly unfair safety assessments based on flawed principles and weird math. If you don't want to wait, and I sure wouldn't, there's help at hand. It comes from Vigillo LLC, a data-mining company that offers fleet subscribers a rather sophisticated CSA analytics service. It's designed to aggregate, organize, and deliver complex carrier safety data in a scorecard format. More particularly, the help comes from a new and additional service called JUST, which will properly examine an accident submitted for review by subscriber carriers.
U.S. Traffic Delays, Increased Cargo Theft Chances This Week
ORLANDO, FL; AUSTIN, TX and, JERSEY CITY, NJ -- Trucking fleets and drivers that are going to be operating in the U.S. this week face more than their usual challenges with expectations of greatly increased traffic and a higher risk of cargo thefts.
