Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

FMCSA Updates Crash Preventability Determination Program

The mission statement of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is to “reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities involving large trucks and buses.” FMCSA undertakes that mission largely by identifying motor carriers and commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers with safety records that indicate they need attention or even intervention. FMCSA determines

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FMCSA Flagging Motor Carriers That Haven’t Updated Government Form

By Steve Vaughn, vice president of field operations, PrePass Safety Alliance The football season may be over – at least for colleges and the NFL – but “flags” are flying at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The agency is “flagging” motor carriers which have not updated their MCS-150 forms

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UCR Fees Proposed to Decrease Again in 2024

Motor carriers will again pay less for Unified Carrier Registration Plan and Agreement (UCR) fees in 2024 than the year before, but likely only for a short time. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced a proposed 9% decrease in UCR fees beginning next year. That reduction follows the

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Trucking Things to Know Now, Part 9: Federal Regulatory Updates

Whatever the political headlines of the day, federal agencies continue to add new trucking regulations, adopt new forms, and extend or discontinue previous waivers and exemptions. In this series, “Trucking Things to Know Now,” PrePass provides quick updates on regulatory developments, often with links to more information. Is Hair Testing

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The Most Important Part of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems on Trucks

We read and hear much about ADAS – Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) mentions it in the Tech-Celerate program. FMCSA rulemakings and truck manufacturer literature frequently highlight ADAS, from automatic emergency braking (AEB) and adaptive cruise control systems to lane-keeping assist, and camera-based mirror

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Revoked ELDs – What Truckers Need to Know & Do

Electronic logging devices have been part of trucking life since 2016. The devices record a driver’s hours of service and display, transfer, or print out that information for roadside enforcement. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has a long list of technical standards any ELD must meet. In Canada, an

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More on New Trucking Regulations in 2023

In September 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) published its Significant Rulemaking Report, listing the new regulations anticipated in 2023 from all U.S. Transportation Department regulatory agencies, including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. As the title indicates, the report shows only

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FMCSA Proposes CSA Overhaul to Improve Truck Safety

Goodbye BASICs, you are now “safety categories.” Goodbye IRT, Item Response Theory was too complex and too slow to be useful. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is proposing changes to the Safety Measurement System (SMS) as published in a lengthy and detailed notice. The SMS comprises the mathematical

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How Did That Trucking Company Ever Get on The Road?

By: Steve Vaughn, vice president of field operations, PrePass Safety Alliance Motor carriers and professional truck drivers are essential to our lives. As a law enforcement officer, I saw the hard-working folks in trucking as a partner in highway safety and often in emergency response. Still, there were those times

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FMCSA Clarifies Key Brokerage Definitions

Is that “dispatch service” helping a motor carrier secure new business operating as a “bona fide agent” of the carrier or is it a “broker”? An important distinction when the latter comes with the required broker authority and a $75,000 bond or trust fund. In the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs

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Welcome FMCSA Administrator Hutcheson

The U.S. Senate has confirmed the nomination of Robin Hutcheson to become the Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Administrator Hutcheson has served as FMCSA Deputy Administrator since mid-January 2022. In 2021, Hutcheson was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safety Policy for the U.S. Department of Transportation. As

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Trucking Group Seeks Exemption in Hair Testing for Drug Use

A group of large motor carriers has applied to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for an exemption from federal drug testing regulations. The Trucking Alliance wants an employer’s knowledge of a driver’s positive hair test to be reported to FMCSA’s Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse and to other motor carriers

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