Three companies added to fireworks haulers’ annual Independence Day exemption
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration added Artisan Pyrotechnics, Montana Display Fireworks and ZY Pyrotechnics doing business as Skyshooter Displays to the exemption, allowing fireworks haulers to drive beyond their 14-hour on-duty clock aft…
Alabama chiropractor suspended by FMCSA for falsifying DOT physicals
Dr. Kenneth Edwards and his employee, Joann Bush, both of Phenix City, Alabama, were suspended in December. Edwards was recently sentenced to 37 months in prison and a $10,000 fine for his role in the scheme.
Post-ELD mandate crash data a knock on hours regs, too
These two elements being true — crashes numbers are flat despite more widespread adherence to hours of service regs — isn’t that as much an indictment of hours of service regs as it is the ELD mandate?
Concrete pavers get 30-minute break, short-haul exemption relief
FMCSA says drivers transporting ready-mixed concrete and related materials and equipment in vehicles other than those with rotating mixer drums to use 30 minutes or more of on-duty “waiting time” to satisfy the 30-minute break requirement, as long as t…
Snow, bitter cold prompt expansion of HOS suspensions in Midwest, Northeast
Truck drivers hauling heating fuels, including propane, natural gas, and heating oil, and other fuel products, including gasoline, into the affected states providing necessary relief will be exempt from hours of service regulations through Feb. 2, or u…
Driver shutdown afoot? Facebook groups stir controversy over calls to turn off the keys
With some groups of truckers coalesced around a “Truckers Stand as One” moniker and calling for an April 12 “industry-wide shutdown” — and an attendant media blitz in the run-up to that date Feb. 21 — views vary on whether any such action is necessar…
FMCSA suspends hours regs for certain drivers in 12 states ahead of winter storm
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a Regional Emergency Declaration that includes Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Though FMCSA operations unaffected, shutdown could delay hours of service revisions
Agency officials hinted in December that a notice of proposed rulemaking offering potential revisions to federal hours regs could come as early as March. But the lingering closure of federal agencies will impede FMCSA’s ability to proceed with the rule…
Cathy Gautreaux, FMCSA’s second in command, switching teams at DOT
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Cathy Gautreaux, the agency’s deputy director and second in command behind Administrator Ray Martinez, is leaving FMCSA to take a position elsewhere in the U.S. DOT.
FMCSA’s decision to exempt carriers from Calif. break laws challenged by the Teamsters
FMCSA asserted on Dec. 21 that carriers do not have to provide drivers with the meal and rest breaks dictated by California’s labor code. The Teamsters Union filed a petition days later asking a federal appellate court to reverse FMCSA’s decision.