March 30, 2011
American Trucking Association chairwoman Barbara Windsor had an opportunity this week to tell Congress what many of you already know: The trucking industry desperately needs a new surface transportation bill that focuses on highways. In a written statement to a congressional subcommittee, Windsor emphasized that the nation’s transportation infrastructure falls short for trucks – even though the industry handles about 70 percent of the country’s freight. Windsor, who is president and CEO of Maryland-based Hahn Transportation, said any emerging reauthorization bill must address safety issues and congested freight corridors. Congestion alone cost the trucking industry about $33 billion in 2009, […]
March 21, 2011
Battle lines are being drawn in the midst of a controversial plan by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to purchase Electronic On-Board Recorders for Mexican truck carriers. As you might know by now, the pilot program, a byproduct of NAFTA, means the feds will buy EOBRs for Mexican truckers who cross the border on to U.S. roadways.
February 16, 2011
Each week, we ask you to send us your questions for our monthly Q&A blog post through our Facebook and Twitter accounts. If you have a question about our services, regulations or the industry in general, let us know! Post a question on our discussion page on Facebook, or send us an @reply on Twitter to @TruckingLaw.Here are a few of the questions that came our way this month:Question:Is it really legal to idle in non-idling areas if you have a pet aboard?
January 13, 2011
The Hours of Service issue has come to a head yet again. This past December, the FMCSA announced their proposed changes to the HOS rules. The proposed changes are currently available for comments until February 28, 2011, but the FMCSA seems to be the one of the few organizations in favor of the change. Individual drivers and trucking organizations have expressed their disapproval of the proposed changes…
December 2, 2010
DriveCam revealed four poor driving behaviors found most frequently in multi-collision drivers. On November 10, 2010, DriveCam revealed the results of a study that shows multi-collision drivers represent only 0.4% of the transit community, but more than 70% of them were cited for the four poor driving behaviors. DriveCam recorded 20,000 different transit drivers in the industry between June 2009 and June 2010.
November 21, 2010
On November 3, the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released its newest Freight Analysis Framework data. This report details freight movement throughout the country. FHWA states that freight tonnage will continue to grow 1.6 percent a year. They estimate growth of 61 percent by 2040, putting freight at 27.1 billion tons. The report also states that trucks are the single most-used method of hauling freight. Trucks account for 69 percent of the weight and 65 percent of the value of transported goods according to 2007 numbers.
October 9, 2010
Diesel prices jumped 3.1 cents over night Monday October 4 according to Trucking Info. The New York Mercantile exchange put light, sweet crude oil at $82.82 a barrel. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) shows that diesel prices reached a national average of $3 a gallon.
October 3, 2010
Each year, for one week, we officially celebrate and appreciate those people who devote their lives to bettering our own, truck drivers. This great celebration took place across our nation last week.
September 22, 2010
Congratulations to all the professional truckers across the nation! Your continued commitment to safety and heightened awareness on the road was recognized recently in an article released by the American Trucking Association (ATA).According to the article, large truck-related fatalities dropped nearly 20 percent from 2008 to 2009, reaching an all-time record low. This data is based upon a recent study completed by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration for 2009. The overall number of traffic fatalities dropped from 4,245 to 3,380.
September 5, 2010
The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) just released their 2009 Botteneck Analysis of 100 freight-affecting congestion areas across America. Out of the 100 locations, Chicago took the top two positions of congested urban interstate interchanges. Both locations were on or just off of I-90, also known as the Dan Ryan Expressway. For those wishing to reroute away from this area a map of the area can be found by following this link and then typing “I-90 at I-94” in the search bar.
