Category: FMCSA

FMCSA has Removed ALL-WAYS TRACK, LLC’s

Posted on by McCraren Compliance

Original article published by FMCSA

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has removed All-Ways Track ELD from the list of registered Electronic Logging Devices (ELD). FMCSA has placed All-Ways Track ELD on the Revoked Devices list due to the company’s failure to meet the minimum requirements established in 49 CFR part 395, subpart B, appendix A, effective March 27, 2023.

FMCSA will be sending an industry email to let motor carriers know that all who use All-Ways Track ELD must take the following steps:

  1. Discontinue using the revoked ELD(s) and revert to paper logs or logging software to record required hours of service data.
  2. Replace the revoked ELD(s) with compliant ELD(s) from the Registered Devices list before May 26, 2023.

Motor carriers have a period of up to 60 days to replace the revoked ELD(s) with compliant ELD(s). If the ELD provider corrects all identified deficiencies, FMCSA will place the ELD back on the list of registered devices and inform the industry and the field.

During this period, safety officials are encouraged not to cite drivers using All-Ways Track ELDs for 395.8(a)(1) – “No record of duty status” or 395.22(a) – “Failed to use a registered ELD.” During this time, safety officials should request the driver’s paper logs, logging software, or use the All-Ways Track ELD display as a back-up method to review the hours of service data.

Beginning May 26, 2023, motor carriers who continue to use the revoked ELD listed above would be considered to be operating without an ELD. Safety officials who encounter a driver using a revoked ELD on or after May 26, 2023 should cite 395.8(a)(1), and place the driver out-of-service (OOS) in accordance with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance OOS Criteria.

FMCSA strongly encourages motor carriers to take the actions listed above now to avoid compliance issues in the event that the deficiencies are not addressed in time.

For more information on ELDs, visit FMCSA’s ELD implementation website.

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UCR Fees to Decline by 9% in 2024, FMCSA Says

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Original article published by Transport Topics

Reductions Would Range From $4 to $3,453 per Entity

Photo: FMCSA

Fees for Unified Carrier Registration Plan participants in 2024 will be reduced by approximately 9% compared with 2023 fees, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced March 16.

FMCSA proposed that the fees for property motor carriers, brokers, freight forwarders and leasing companies be reduced by between $4 and $3,453 per entity, depending on the number of vehicles owned and/or operated by the affected entities.

The 2024 Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) fees will be reduced for companies with up to two power units to $37. For companies with 1,001 or more power units, fees will drop to $35,836.

The 41 states participating in the UCR agreement collect fees from participants. The UCR Plan and agreement is administered by a 15-member UCR board of directors — 14 appointed from the participating states and the industry, plus the deputy administrator of FMCSA.

Revenue collected is allocated to the participating states and the UCR Plan.

The UCR board provides fee adjustment recommendations to the Transportation Secretary when revenue collections result in a shortfall or surplus from the amount authorized by statute. If there are excess funds after payments to the states and for administrative costs, they are retained in the UCR Plan’s depository, and fees in subsequent fee years must be reduced as required by regulation.

Created by Congress in 2005, the UCR Plan and the 41 states participating in the UCR agreement establish and collect the fees and then dish out the more than $100 million in safety enforcement programs annually to the participating states.

UCR map

UCR Plan participating states (ucr.gov)

The fee adjustments are authorized by federal regulation because the total revenue collected for previous registration years has exceeded the maximum annual revenue entitlements of $107.78 million distributed to the 41 participating states, plus the amount established for administrative costs associated with the UCR Plan and agreement.

The board must also obtain DOT approval to revise the total revenue to be collected. Its recommendation now uses an average of the historical monthly collections over the prior three-year period to determine projected collections, which will yield a more accurate result.

The UCR board did not make a fee recommendation for the 2025 registration year, but the recommendation for the 2024 registration year anticipates an increase in fees for 2025, following the large fee decreases in previous years.

Because the state UCR revenue entitlements would remain unchanged, the participating states would not be impacted by this rule.

As of the summer of 2021, there were up to 44,000 motor carriers that had not registered with the plan, failed to pay their fees or had been issued penalties for past violations. Since then, the UCR board approved an aggressive three-pronged strategy to identify and contact unregistered motor carriers, authorizing three pilot projects that called for hiring a private contractor to contact, attempt to register and collect fees mostly from errant carriers from the nine nonparticipating UCR states to raise funds for the plan.

McCraren Compliance can help you understand and comply with FMCSA, USDOT and ADOT and ensure your drivers and your vehicles operate safely and efficiently.

Call us Today at 888-758-4757 or email us at info@mccrarencompliance.com to schedule your free FMCSA Compliance Assessment.

Trucking safety advocates push for action on automatic braking and speed limiters

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Original article published by Safety+Health

Photo: FMCSA

Washington — The Truck Safety Coalition is calling on the Department of Transportation to make automatic emergency braking and speed-limiting devices a requirement on commercial trucks and buses.

In a letter sent to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, coalition President Tami Friedrich Trakh and representatives from nine other industry, labor and academic organizations contend “it is past time to issue essential and overdue truck safety standards,” including changes to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours-of-service rule for drivers.

The group points to the Feb. 3 train derailment and fire in East Palestine, OH, which involved the transportation of hazardous materials. “This similar scenario affects the safety of hundreds of thousands of hazardous materials shipments that move by truck every day through communities across the United States,” the letter states. “Government inaction and relentless opposition by special trucking interests puts the public at unnecessary and unreasonable risk of a deadly and dangerous crash.”

As mandated under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, FMCSA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are proceeding with proposed rulemaking concerning automatic emergency braking. DOT’s Fall 2022 regulatory agenda lists March as a target date for publication of a proposed rule “to require and/or standardize equipment performance” for AEB systems on heavy trucks.

Regarding speed limiters, the coalition asks for a federal mandate on the use of speed-limiting devices to cap commercial motor vehicle speeds at 60 mph because “speed kills.” In May, FMCSA published an advance notice of supplemental proposed rulemaking that expands on a 2016 joint proposal from NHTSA and FMCSA that would require speed-limiting devices on trucks, buses and multipurpose passenger vehicles weighing more than 26,000 pounds. FMCSA is the lone agency listed on the proposal, which doesn’t specify a top speed. The 2016 proposal suggested capping speeds at 60, 65 or 68 mph.

According to the regulatory agenda, FMCSA anticipates publishing a second notice of proposed rulemaking in June.

The letter also calls for the restoration of a 2011 final rule that preceded a controversial 2020 rule change that FMCSA claimed would add flexibility to hours-of-service regulations for commercial truck drivers. “We urge you to restore the 2011 rule immediately and require a 30-minute rest break after eight hours of driving that does not allow non-driving work,” the letter states. “Additionally, DOT should reinstitute the rulemaking requiring screening and treatment of safety-sensitive personnel for obstructive sleep apnea, something DOT already requires of air pilots.”

McCraren Compliance can help you understand and comply with FMCSA, USDOT and ADOT and ensure your drivers and your vehicles operate safely and efficiently.

Call us Today at 888-758-4757 or email us at info@mccrarencompliance.com to schedule your free FMCSA Compliance Assessment.

FMCSA Announces Proposed Improvements to Its Safety Measurement System to Prevent Crashes

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Original article published by FMCSA

WASHINGTON – The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced proposed changes to its Safety Measurement System (SMS) to reduce and prevent crashes. The SMS uses data from roadside inspections, crash reports, and investigations to identify and prioritize for intervention the motor carriers that pose the greatest risk to safety. As part of FMCSA’s commitment to continually improve how the Agency uses data to focus enforcement, these proposed changes aim to better identify the companies needing the most intervention, and also will help companies better understand how to use this data to influence safer behaviors.

“Safety is FMCSA’s core mission. The proposed changes are part of the Agency’s continued commitment to enhancing the fairness, accuracy, and clarity of our prioritization system,” said FMCSA Administrator Robin Hutcheson.

Some of the proposed changes include reorganizing the SMS’s safety categories (currently known as “BASICs”); organizing roadside violations into violation groups for prioritization purposes; simplifying violation severity weights; adjusting some of the Intervention Thresholds that identify companies for possible intervention; and more changes aimed at comparing similar motor carriers to each other.

A new website, the Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) Prioritization Preview, which is now live, is the first phase of planned updates to the Agency’s SMS. Motor carriers can visit the website to preview how their data would appear under the proposed changes. Companies are encouraged to preview these results and submit feedback on the proposed changes to FMCSA at the Federal Register website. Other users will be able to view sample pages.

FMCSA strongly encourages stakeholders to participate in the preview and submit their comments to the public docket.

The proposed changes to the Agency’s SMS are explained in a Federal Register notice (2023-02947). Feedback on the proposed changes must be submitted to the Federal Docket Management System (https://www.regulations.gov/), Docket ID Number: FMCSA-2022-0066. The 90-day comment period will begin on February 15, 2023 and are due by May 16, 2023. FMCSA will hold four public online question and answer webinars, during which participants will be able to ask questions about the preview and proposed changes and receive real-time answers, time permitting. Registration is required. Visit the CSA Prioritization Preview website for more information.

McCraren Compliance can help you understand and comply with FMCSA, USDOT and ADOT and ensure your drivers and your vehicles operate safely and efficiently.

Call us Today at 888-758-4757 or email us at info@mccrarencompliance.com to schedule your free FMCSA Compliance Assessment.

FMCSA asks for more input on automated driving systems for trucks and buses

Posted on by McCraren Compliance

Original article published by Safety+Health

Photo: FMCSA

Washington — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is moving forward – and seeking feedback – on a proposed rule that would amend, revise or eliminate existing regulations to integrate commercial trucks and buses equipped with automated driving systems.

A supplemental advance notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Feb. 1 Federal Register requests additional information as the agency aims to expand on a May 2019 ANPRM focused on ADS-equipped vehicles.

In its Fall 2022 Unified Regulatory Agenda, FMCSA had indicated its intention to publish in January a notice of proposed rulemaking on the vehicles.

“FMCSA invites comment on additional questions and those issued in the previous ANPRM to help FMCSA assess benefits, costs and other impacts of any potential proposal issued later,” the SANPRM states.

Those additional questions include:

  • Should FMCSA require motor carriers operating Level 4 or 5 ADS-equipped commercial motor vehicles to notify the agency before operating those vehicles in interstate commerce without a human driver behind the wheel?
  • Before operating in interstate commerce, should motor carriers be required to submit information, data, documentation, or other evidence that demonstrates to FMCSA that motor carriers seeking to operate Level 4 or 5 ADS-equipped CMVs have appropriate safety management controls in place to operate the vehicle in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications and with federal requirements?
  • What data should FMCSA collect and maintain regarding Level 4 or 5 ADS-equipped CMVs engaged in interstate transportation? How would such information be used and how would it improve the agency’s ability to oversee the safe operation of Level 4 or 5 ADS-equipped CMVs?
  • To what extent should the federal requirements otherwise applicable to CMV drivers (such as hours-of-service limitations, drug and alcohol testing, and physical qualifications) also apply to a remote assistant who isn’t expected to take control of the dynamic driving task of an ADS-equipped CMV operating at Level 4?
  • What, if any, aspects of the remote assistant job function may require FMCSA oversight, including minimum standards and/or auditing (for example, training, physical qualifications and other job-performance related measures)?
  • Are there any specific limitations that should be imposed on the working conditions of remote assistants, such as limitations on the number of ADS-equipped CMVs that a remote assistant is simultaneously responsible for or the number of hours that a remove assistant may work?
  • Should Level 4 or 5 ADS-equipped CMVs be subject to pre-trip inspection requirements for their mechanical and ADS components in addition to those specified in 49 CFR 392.7, including those which might necessitate new inspection equipment, before such CMVs are dispatched and after a specified period of operation?
  • Under what safety situations should state inspectors and/or FMCSA receive immediate notification of an unsafe maintenance or operational issue, if any?

The deadline to comment is March 20.

McCraren Compliance can help you understand and comply with FMCSA, USDOT and ADOT and ensure your drivers and your vehicles operate safely and efficiently.

Call us Today at 888-758-4757 or email us at info@mccrarencompliance.com to schedule your free FMCSA Compliance Assessment.

Trucker access to parking and rest facilities part of supply chain bill

Posted on by McCraren Compliance
Original article published by Safety+Health
trucks-rest-area

Photo: Missouri Department of Transportation

Washington — Measures for expanded access to parking and rest facilities are included in recently proposed bipartisan legislation aimed at revamping the interstate trucking supply chain system.

Introduced Jan. 24 by Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Jim Costa (D-CA), the Safer Highways and Increased Performance for Interstate Trucking Act (H.R. 471) would permit the transportation secretary to issue grants for projects that provide truck parking. Those grants would total $175 million in fiscal year 2023 and a combined $580 million over the next three fiscal years.

In step with a Senate bill (S. 5169) introduced in the previous Congress, entities eligible for grants would be:

  • States
  • Metropolitan planning organizations
  • Local governments
  • Agencies of states or local governments “carrying out responsibilities relating to commercial motor vehicle parking”
  • Tribal governments or a consortium of tribal governments
  • Multistate or multijurisdictional groups

Grantees would be permitted to partner with private entities “to carry out an eligible project.” Projects may include those that:

  • Build rest areas that include truck parking.
  • Open existing weigh stations, rest areas and park-and-ride facilities to truck parking.

Further, the legislation would require the transportation secretary to consult with state departments of transportation, private providers of truck parking, and other bodies to prepare a report that “evaluates the availability of adequate parking and rest facilities” for trucks in interstate transportation and updates the progress on providing such spaces.

In a press release, the Shippers Coalition praises the legislation for “lessening burdens on truck drivers.”

A lack of safe places for truckers to park ranked third on the American Transportation Research Institute’s list of top trucking industry concerns, released in October.

McCraren Compliance can help you understand and comply with FMCSA, USDOT and ADOT and ensure your drivers and your vehicles operate safely and efficiently.

Call us Today at 888-758-4757 or email us at info@mccrarencompliance.com to schedule your free FMCSA Compliance Assessment.

FMCSA has Removed Nationwide Technologies Inc’s “Nationwide ELD” from List of Registered ELDs

Posted on by McCraren Compliance

Original article published by FMCSA

Photo: Nationwide Technologies Inc

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has removed Nationwide ELD from the list of registered Electronic Logging Devices (ELD). FMCSA has placed Nationwide ELD on the Revoked Devices list due to the company’s failure to meet the minimum requirements established in 49 CFR part 395, subpart B, appendix A, effective February 3, 2023.

FMCSA sent an industry email to let motor carriers know that all who use Nationwide ELD devices must take the following steps:

  1. Discontinue using the revoked device(s) and revert to paper logs or logging software to record required hours of service data.
  2. Replace the revoked device(s) with compliant ELD(s) from the Registered Devices list before April 4, 2023.

Motor carriers have a period of up to 60 days to replace the revoked device(s) with compliant ELD(s). If the ELD provider corrects all identified deficiencies, FMCSA will place the device back on the list of registered devices and inform the industry and the field.

During this period, safety officials are encouraged not to cite drivers using Nationwide ELD for 395.8(a)(1) – “No record of duty status” or 395.22(a) – “Failing to use a registered ELD.” During this time, safety officials should request the driver’s paper logs, logging software, or use the Nationwide ELD display as a back-up method to review the hours of service data.

Beginning April 4, 2023, motor carriers who continue to use the revoked device listed above would be considered to be operating without an ELD. Safety officials who encounter a driver using a revoked device on or after April 4, 2023 should cite 395.8(a)(1), and place the driver out-of-service in accordance with the CVSA OOS Criteria.

FMCSA strongly encourages motor carriers to take the actions listed above now to avoid compliance issues in the event that the deficiencies are not addressed in time.

For more information on ELDs, visit FMCSA’s ELD implementation website.

McCraren Compliance can help you understand and comply with FMCSA, USDOT and ADOT and ensure your drivers and your vehicles operate safely and efficiently.

Call us Today at 888-758-4757 or email us at info@mccrarencompliance.com to schedule your free FMCSA Compliance Assessment.

FMCSA has Removed TMS ONE’s ELD ONE Device from List of Registered ELDs

Posted on by McCraren Compliance

Original article published  by FMCSA

Image: TMS ONE

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has removed ELD ONE from the list of registered Electronic Logging Devices (ELD). FMCSA has placed ELD ONE on the Revoked Devices list due to the company’s failure to meet the minimum requirements established in 49 CFR part 395, subpart B, appendix A, effective January 31, 2023.

FMCSA will be sending an industry email to let motor carriers know that all who use an ELD ONE device must take the following steps:

  1. Discontinue using the revoked device(s) and revert to paper logs or logging software to record required hours of service data.
  2. Replace the revoked device(s) with compliant ELD(s) from the Registered Devices list before April 1, 2023.

Motor carriers have a period of up to 60 days to replace the revoked device(s) with compliant ELD(s). If the ELD provider corrects all identified deficiencies, FMCSA will place the device back on the list of registered devices and inform the industry and the field.

During the period, safety officials are encouraged not to cite drivers using ELD ONE for 395.8(a)(1) – “No ELD” or 395.22(a) – “Failed to use a registered ELD.” During this time, safety officials should request the driver’s paper logs, logging software, or use the ELD ONE display as a back-up method to review the hours of service data.

Beginning April 1, 2023, motor carriers who continue to use the revoked device listed above would be considered to be operating without an ELD. Safety officials who encounter a driver using a revoked device on or after April 1, 2023 should cite 395.8(a)(1), and place the driver out-of-service in accordance with the CVSA OOS Criteria.

FMCSA strongly encourages motor carriers to take the actions listed above now to avoid compliance issues in the event that the deficiencies are not addressed in time.

For more information on ELDs, visit FMCSA’s ELD implementation website.

McCraren Compliance can help you understand and comply with FMCSA, USDOT and ADOT and ensure your drivers and your vehicles operate safely and efficiently.

Call us Today at 888-758-4757 or email us at info@mccrarencompliance.com to schedule your free FMCSA Compliance Assessment.

Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Now Contains 3 Years of Data

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FMCSA denies petition for federal recognition of hair-sample drug testing

Posted on by McCraren Compliance

Original article published by Safety+Health

Washington — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has denied a petition calling on the agency to recognize hair samples as an alternative drug-testing method for truckers, reasserting a longstanding position that it lacks the statutory authority to do so.

Federal regulations mandate that truckers be tested for drugs by urinalysis. In August, the Trucking Alliance, a coalition of 11 organizations, requested that FMCSA amend the definition of an employer’s “actual knowledge” of a driver’s positive drug test – which requires the employer to report the results to the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse – to include knowledge of a positive hair test.

The alliance writes in its petition that “public safety is improved through the use of hair testing because drug use is more accurately detected, and drug users are removed from the operation of commercial motor vehicles.”

In a notice published in the Dec. 23 Federal Register, however, FMCSA maintains its stance on following Department of Health and Human Services’ hair-testing guidelines, which remain under review.

“By ignoring the requirement that FMCSA follow the HHS mandatory guidelines for hair testing … the applicant effectively argues that this provision be read in isolation,” FMCSA administrator Robin Hutcheson writes in the notice. “This approach disregards an accepted standard of statutory construction, which provides that statutory text must be construed as a whole.”

In an article published online Dec. 22 in the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association’s Land Line magazine, OOIDA Director of Federal Affairs Jay Grimes supports FMCSA’s decision.

“FMCSA’s swift denial of another Trucking Alliance exemption request highlights the unanswered questions and validity concerns with hair testing. Just because a small percentage of trucking companies opt to screen their drivers using hair testing does not mean the process should be used for the entire industry. OOIDA maintains our opposition to any hair testing mandate.”

Speaking to industry news resource FreightWaves in a report published online Dec. 24, Robert Moseley, an attorney for one of the firms representing the alliance, said petitioning HHS may be on the horizon.

“I think we’re in a position now where we may bring this FMCSA decision over to HHS directly and request a temporary change in policy until they formalize the mandatory guidelines. It’s just not an acceptable answer to say the industry has all these positive hair tests but they can’t be shared with anyone.”

McCraren Compliance can help you understand and comply with FMCSA, USDOT and ADOT and ensure your drivers and your vehicles operate safely and efficiently.

Call us Today at 888-758-4757 or email us at info@mccrarencompliance.com to schedule your free FMCSA Compliance Assessment.