Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/284466
JOURNAL NEWS 10 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | APRIL 2014 s President Obama last month announced a four-year $302 billion highway funding plan pro- posal, calling on Congress to enact tax reform as a means of finding money to fund the Highway Trust Fund and increase federal spending on the country's ailing roadways. Obama also announced the beginning of a new round of TIGER grants, opening up $600 million in federal money to states and cities for "transformative" infrastructure projects. The president also pressed Congress to pass a new highway funding act. t California carriers can use footage from in-cab driver-filming cameras for disciplinary purposes, the state's attorney general concluded, saying trucking companies have not violated any of the state's codes by using the data to take action against a driver. Attorney General Kamala Harris' opinion deals with companies contracted by carriers to provide the footage. Harris said carriers can use the third-party services to film drivers and inspect the video. t FTR said its monthly Trucking Conditions Index was "in very positive territory" in January as capacity remained tight and would remain favorable in the coming months due to "regula- tory drag." The January TCI rose 2.8 points from December to 8.82, indicating improvement in rates that began with implementation of the lat- est hours-of-service rule last summer, FTR said. t Class 8 orders were up roughly 30 percent in February from the same month in 2013, according to research firms FTR and ACT. FTR's preliminary February data showed 28,876 net orders, making December, January and February the best three-month period since 2006. ACT pegged February's order total at 29,200 orders – the fifth-strongest month since the first half of 2006. t Trailer orders in January grew 28 percent from the same month last year, according to ACT Research. Year over year, reefer orders climbed 80 percent, tank trailers enjoyed triple-digit growth, and lowbeds saw double-digit gains. INBRIEF 4/14 A U.S. Department of Transportation audit has determined that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration must be more careful about its collection, management and analysis of data, or the federal trucking regula- tor "will be hindered in its ability to effectively implement CSA nationwide and address the key concerns of industry stakeholders." In its report last month, the DOT's Office of the Inspector General gave the agency some credit for strengthened quality controls for state- reported data, but "more action is needed in key areas." Among those key areas, OIG determined that FMCSA has not fully implemented planned improvements to its processes for reviewing data cor- rection requests and has taken "limited action" to address inaccurate and incomplete data reported by carriers – despite similar recommendations dating back to 2006. So far, only 10 states have fully implemented Compliance Safety Accountability enforcement interventions, and FMCSA provided audi- tors no date when it expects to complete implementation in all states. The agency did say it expects a nationwide release of software critical to state intervention efforts by May 2015. The report noted that OIG "coordinated" with the Government Accountability Office – whose own CSA report was released in February – "to avoid duplicating work." In the earlier analysis, GAO determined that the FMCSA system to score and compare motor carrier safety records is flawed and particularly unfair to small carriers. "The Inspector General's report confirms what industry stakeholders, independent researchers and other government watchdogs have found – there continue to be significant flaws in the data FMCSA is using to evalu- ate and score carriers under CSA," said Dave Osiecki, American Trucking Associations executive vice president. "ATA continues to support the over- sight mission and safety goals of CSA, but FMCSA must acknowledge the program's many problems – and commit to addressing them." The report also said "FMCSA lacked documentation demonstrating that it followed information technology system best practices and federal guid- ance" while developing and testing the Safety Measurement System, the heart of the data-driven package. In its response, FMCSA concurred with all six of report's recommenda- tions and provided "appropriate planned actions and timeframes." ATA expressed disappointment in IG's report for its face-value acceptance of FMCSA's self-assessment of its State Safety Data Quality system, which scores states' ability to upload timely and accurate data. ATA said IG failed to examine under what circumstances a state might obtain a "good rating." – Kevin Jones So far, only 10 states have fully implemented Compliance Safety Ac- countability enforcement interventions. DOT audit points out more CSA shortcomings Continued on page 60