The average price of both on-highway diesel fuel and regular gasoline continued to rise last week, according to the latest numbers from the Energy Department. The price of a gallon of diesel fuel jumped 2.4 cents last week, hitting a national average of $2.431. Despite the increases, the price is still nearly 44 cents cheaper than it was a year ago. By region, prices were up in all areas, with […]
An alliance of major trucking companies is asking Congress to skip recently passed changes to hours of service regulations and wait until mandated electronic logging devices are in use before making any changes. The Trucking Alliance (Alliance for Driver Safety & Security) Monday May 2 issued a statement that said federal hours of service rules that govern work hours for truck drivers should rely on sound science and statistical data […]
On its surface, the theory of “gamification” seems a fairly straightforward one: Using game mechanics and dynamics to drive game-like engagement in a non-game context. In trucking, for example, that can translate into setting up competitions between drivers, to see who can achieve the best fuel economy or record the lowest engine idle time. Yet it’s not quite that easy, Roni Taylor, vice president of industry relations for telematics provider […]
There’s been a lot of discussion in recent years about the need to get people interested in the trucking industry while they’re still young — before they have a chance to get out of high school and embark on a different career. The Maine Professional Drivers Association has been doing exactly that with a student driving competition for some time. The Dick Dolloff Memorial Student Driving Competition is for high […]
More than 800 of the Volvo trucks recalled by the company March 23 remained unaccounted for April 26, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced. The trucks are Volvo 2016-2017 VNL, VNX and VNM models produced between May 11, 2015, and March 2016. “These unsafe vehicles should not be operated as they pose an imminent hazard and are to be immediately ordered out-of-service by federal and state roadside safety inspectors,” FMCSA […]
The U.S. Senate’s Appropriations Committee April 21 passed 30-0 a bill that corrects a legislative mess-up from December that put the 34-hour restart in jeopardy. It makes clear that the restart remains available for use by truck operators pending study by the Department of Transportation find that pre-July 2013 restart rules are more effective for truckers’ fatigue levels than those that took effect July 1, 2013. Should that be the case, […]
Both chambers of Congress are expected to begin work soon on federal appropriations bills for the 2017 fiscal year, and lawmakers will likely, as in recent years, use their 2017 DOT funding bills as vehicles to implement hours of service changes or other trucking industry-related policy reforms. Two key trucking items likely to see action in the appropriations process include a fix to the hours of service legislative screw-up from […]
