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DOT released a final rule governing hours-of-service for professional truck drivers that will become effective July 1, 2013 for interstate motor carriers and professional drivers.   ATA expressed frustration and disappointment that the rule will do nothing to improve highway safety, but will very likely increase the risk of truck-involved crashes.  Since the current rules went into effect in 2004, fatalities have fallen 29.9%, even as overall miles traveled for trucks increased by tens of billions of miles.  The new rule will put more truck traffic onto the roadways during morning rush hour, when the largest percentage of truck-involved crashes occur between 6 a.m. and noon.  For more information click here.  To see a summary of changes, click here.

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ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said while it was heartening to hear President Obama use his State of the Union Address to highlight the need for increased spending to repair our nation's roads and bridges, the administration and Congress need to work together to identify real funding sources to finance our many needs.

"Right now, the country doesn’t need more empty promises and rhetoric about the importance of repairing roads and bridges as a way to put Americans back to work. What the country needs is money – money from real sources, not promises of private investment or redirected savings,” Graves said. “While promises of speeding the construction process will help in the short term, in the long term, it still boils down to funding."

In order to continue to move the nation's freight efficiently and safely, Graves said, trucking needs the administration and Congress to "come together on a well-funded multiyear highway bill that makes smart investments in roads and bridges with real dollars. As the president said, 'There's never been a better time to build'"

For more information click here.

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American Trucking Associations filed an amicus brief February 24 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in support of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s defense of electronic logging devices.

“ATA supports the use of electronic logging devices, which have demonstrated the ability to improve carriers’ compliance with FMCSA’s hours-of-service regulations,” ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said. “With this filing, we urge the Court to reject the calls to prevent fleets from using these powerful compliance tools.”

FMCSA’s rules governing the voluntary use of electronic logging devices to record hours-of-service data are being challenged by a group that successfully overturned the agency’s proposal to mandate electronic logging for carriers with egregious hours-of-service violations. For more click here:
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Lee Long, director of maintenance for Southeastern Freight Lines, Columbia, S.C., was installed as the 2012-2013 general chairman and treasurer of the Technology & Maintenance Council, a technical council of American Trucking Associations, during TMC’s 2012 Annual Meeting and Transportation Technology Exhibition in Tampa, Fla., Feb. 20-23.

Long said one of his goals as chairman is to raise the awareness of students about career opportunities as heavy-duty truck technicians.  Article continued...

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In a March 15 filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, American Trucking Associations identified four areas where the Obama administration’s recent hours-of-service rule falls short of legal standards for regulatory changes.

In its filing, ATA contends that several aspects of the rule issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration are “arbitrary and capricious” and should be overturned.

Specifically, ATA questioned changes to the restart provision requiring that it include two consecutive periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.; limits on the frequency with which a driver may use the restart; the requirement that a mandatory 30-minute break from driving also exclude all other on-duty activity; and narrowing—without prior notice—certain exceptions to drive-time regulations for local delivery drivers.

For more, click here.

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American Trucking Associations’ leaders expressed serious concern over the recent decision by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, after pressure from anti-truck groups, to continue to hold the trucking industry responsible in its CSA program for every truck-involved crash, including those which the truck driver could not have prevented.

"By backtracking on their commitment to implement a crash accountability determination process in early 2012 to hold carriers accountable for crashes clearly caused by the actions or inactions of a truck driver, FMCSA has bowed to anti-industry interest groups and unfairly called into question the integrity of police accident reports prepared by America’s law enforcement community," ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said.

“Every fleet dreads word that one of their trucks and drivers has been involved in a crash,” said ATA Chairman Dan England, chairman of C.R. England, Salt Lake City. “Every day, companies and drivers are working hard to make sure our roads are as safe as they can be, which is why ATA has supported FMCSA in its effort to improve carrier oversight through CSA. However, we all know that not every crash involving one of our trucks can be prevented by the truck driver, so we’ve been making the common sense, reasonable request for several years that FMCSA hold us accountable for what we can prevent and not hold us accountable in the CSA program for crashes we simply cannot prevent."

For more click here:
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New research released this week by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration confirms the clear safety benefits of using technology to electronically govern and limit the top speed of commercial trucks.
The study team, which included the American Transportation Research Institute and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, found that “multiple analyses indicated a profound safety benefit for trucks equipped with an active [speed limiter].”

“This study confirms what ATA has been saying for years – speed kills and one of the most effective ways to prevent hundreds, if not thousands, of crashes on our highways is to slow all vehicles down, including large trucks” American Trucking Associations President and CEO Bill Graves said. “ATA petitioned FMCSA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration six years ago to mandate the use of speed limiters on all commercial motor vehicles manufactured since 1992 to save lives and make our industry safer. This study strengthens ATA’s case and we call on both agencies to swiftly move forward with rulemakings to ensure that these devices are required on as many trucks as possible.”

For more click here.
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American Trucking Associations President and CEO Bill Graves called on Congress to swiftly adopt a proposal introduced by Reps. Jim Gerlach (R-Penn.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) to repeal the 12% federal excise tax on large trucks and replace it with a modest increase in the federal diesel fuel tax.

“The proposal by Congressmen Gerlach and Blumenauer would not only reinforce the ailing Highway Trust Fund, but would provide a boost to U.S. manufacturing and speed adoption of environmentally friendly technologies,” Graves said.

The bill would eliminate the 12% federal excise tax on heavy truck sales and replace it with a 6.3-cent increase in the federal diesel tax.

“Revenues from the excise tax are only paid into the Highway Trust Fund when new trucks are purchased, but when truck sales slump, it puts even more pressure on the already overextended fund,” Graves said. “Further, by cutting more than $15,000 from the cost of the average new truck, eliminating the excise tax will encourage purchases of trucks, providing a boost for manufacturing and accelerate the adoption of new technologies aimed at improving safety and fuel efficiency."  For more, click here.
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With a massive outbreak of tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds hitting Texas and surrounding states,  American Trucking Associations urges truck drivers, as well as all motorists, to take appropriate precautions while delivering or traveling through affected areas.  The trucking industry is one of the first to enter disaster areas delivering food, water, fuel and other critical relief supplies to those in the greatest need.  ATA offers safety tips and information on how to help those in need.  Article continued...
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After a year of quarterly increases, the turnover rate for truck drivers at large truckload fleets unexpectedly dipped one percentage point to an annualized rate of 88% American Trucking Associations Chief Economist Bob Costello said.

“This reprieve, while surprising, is likely temporary,” Costello said. “As the economy continues to recover, freight volumes should continue to grow, which along with regulatory challenges related to hours-of-service and the government’s CSA fleet oversight program, will continue to cause the driver market to tighten and the turnover rate to rise.”

Turnover among large truckload fleets had risen to 89% in the third quarter of 2011 after bottoming out at 39% in the first quarter of 2010.
For more click here.
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In testimony before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, NFI Chief Financial Officer Steve Grabell warned that rapidly increasing toll rates, as well as the spread of tolls across the transportation system, are a threat to consumers and to the trucking industry.

“I am deeply concerned about the significant increases in toll costs that have been imposed on NFI and other trucking companies over the past few years,” ATA member Grabell said.

“These added costs have forced us to re-route our trucks to less efficient secondary roads, which raises our costs and increases congestion and safety concerns,” he said. “In addition to the impact increased tolls have on logistics providers, the added costs associated with toll increases filter down to the consumer and affect business decisions regarding hiring and facility location and expansion.”

In 2011 alone, Grabell said NFI paid $14 million in tolls. 

For more, click here.
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“The Future of Trucking’s Finance & Technology Platforms” is the theme for this year’s combined conference of ATA’s Information Technology & Logistics Council and the National Accounting & Finance Council scheduled for June 11-13 at the Hyatt Regency Tampa in Florida.  Regarded as trucking’s premier forum for IT/logistics, operations, tax and financial professionals, the 2012 ITLC/NAFC Annual Conference will provide 15 in-depth educational sessions and five separate exhibit viewing periods.  Featured speakers for the Tuesday and Wednesday plenary sessions will be Neil Newhouse of Public Opinion Strategies and Bob Costello, ATA’s chief economist.  For more, click here.
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