trucking regulations

Navigating the Trucking Regulatory Landscape: A Recap of 2023

As the wheels of the trucking industry rolled into 2023, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) set the stage for a year filled with pivotal regulatory developments. From the contentious discussions surrounding truck speed limiters to the examination of unique identification

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NLRB Joint-Employer Rule May Increase Trucking Labor Costs

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a final rule on determining joint-employer status, raising concerns by some in trucking that relationships between carriers could be disrupted and they could see increased labor costs. The rule sets forth the factors the NLRB will examine when deciding whether two companies

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FMCSA Making Improvements to Complaint Website

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is working on improvements to its National Consumer Complaint Database (NCCDB) that will lead to better reporting to the trucking industry. Many of the NCCDB updates came from recommendations in a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. One of the issues raised in the

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A Vital Component of Truck Safety: Understanding Roadside Inspection Reports

Truck safety is a paramount concern for both drivers and fleets. Roadside inspections play a crucial role in ensuring the safe operation of commercial vehicles on the road. These inspections help identify potential safety hazards and violations, ensuring that trucks are compliant with safety regulations. A blog from TruckSafe Consulting

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FMCSA Finalizes Changes to Emergency Trucking Exemptions

The trucking industry remembers the COVID-19 pandemic very well. From 2020 to 2022, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued nine emergency declarations, waiving specific sections of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to facilitate emergency relief efforts by motor carriers. With each emergency declaration update, FMCSA adjusted

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Cost/Benefit Changes = More Federal Trucking Regulations?

As a motor carrier you have budgetary limits on your departments. As a truck driver you know some costs require pre-approval. Those limits exist to ensure the company has the cash flow needed for expenses. Through experience, you all have learned just how much things cost. So, when a bill

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ATRI: The Finger on the Pulse of Trucking

Many believe we live in an era of disinformation and distrust of those who report the news. That’s why it is reassuring to know that someone actively listens to trucking industry concerns and then responds with thoughtful research on meeting those challenges. All done transparently and for free. The American

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FMCSA Overhaul of Key Truck Safety Program Begins

UPDATED – The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to potentially redo the Safety Fitness Determination (SFD) process, which is part of its comprehensive Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) truck safety program. The SFD process can result in a declaration that a motor

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Taking Control of Speeding in Your Truck Fleet

By: Steve Vaughn, senior vice president of field operations, PrePass Safety Alliance “It’s all about control.” That’s what I hear from frustrated fleet managers and their professional drivers – the government is trying to control our every action. Take the speed limiter proposal, they say. “It’s the government bureaucrats, most

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FMCSA Accepting Petitions to Roll Back Meal and Rest Break Rules

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently gave notice that it will consider petitions to undo the federal preemption of truck driver meal and rest break rules in California and Washington State. The agency determined in 2018 and 2020 that those state-level rules were more stringent than the federal

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Urinalysis Fails to Catch Most Truck Driver Drug Use

A multiyear study commissioned by 10 major trucking companies concludes that urinalysis, the drug-testing method sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) for truck drivers, fails to identify about 90% of actual drug use. The study by the University of Central Arkansas compared more than 936,000 truck driver pre-employment

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Coming Down the Pike: Updated Trucking Regulatory Agenda

What’s on the minds of federal trucking regulators? A look at the latest Unified Regulatory Agenda provides some clues. The Unified Regulatory Agenda displays the anticipated regulatory activity by departments and agencies across the federal government. “Anticipated” is a key word, as the dates shown for agency actions often slip.

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