Articles Posted in Trucking Rules

Washington, 12/2/05. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s regulations governing minimum standards for entry-level truck driver training are inadequate based on the record developed during the rulemaking process, a federal appeals court ruled today. The minimum requirements adopted last May by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration involve only classroom education and in only four…

The Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), outlined a new effort on the part of the agency to concentrate more on truck driver-related issues. As part of this shift of emphasis, FMCSA plans to start work on the following in 2006: Development of a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) learner’s permit with a…

The US Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last month reaffirmed a change made in January 2004, allowing drivers to work 11 hours a day, up from the 10-hour limit that had applied for 60 years. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University analysed data from three national trucking companies for 12 months after the change and found…

Trucking is essential to the national economy. Virtually every product sold is transported by truck. But with its economic importance comes accountability, as trucking is also a major highway safety hazard. Truck drivers, overworked and underpaid, are the heroes of country music ballads. Popular culture holds them up as rough-hewn “knights of the road,” and…

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations apply to commercial motor vehicles, which are defined as any self-propelled or towed motor vehicle used on a highway in interstate commerce to transport passengers or property when the vehicle: (1) has a gross vehicle weight of 10,001 pounds or more, whichever is greater; or (2) is designed or…

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations include a provision for waiver of rules in emergency situations. Some are concerned, however, that the waiver of safety rules may be too broad and may be used as a pretext for long-term weaking of rules designed to protect the public safety. In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina ravaged…

It’s one thing for a plaintiff’s lawyer to say the new hours of service rule for commercial truck drivers is a threat to highway safety. But now the American Insurance Association (AIA) is saying the same thing. The AIA has expressed extreme disappointment that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has approved rules that would…

Courts often have been reluctant to allow claims for punitive damages for what some judges have perceived as mere technical violations of hours of service, log book requirements, and other Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. See, e.g., Pittman v. Clay, 2001 WL 1352914 (E.D.Pa.,2001). However, a recent case illustrates how to lay the foundation for…

In the wake of several horrific truck crashes on metro Atlanta expressways in recent weeks, the State Road and Tollway Authority has released a study proposing three options for trucks-only lanes on the expressways. One option would include two trucks-only toll lanes 24/7 on I-285, I-75 and I-85. The second option would put trucks in…

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has launched a Spanish language web site. With a shortage of truck drivers, young Hispanics a rapidly growing portion of the work force, and Mexican truckers coming into the US under NAFTA rules, it makes sense. See article and web site. By law, truck drivers must be able to…