Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/466315
LEADING NEWS, TRUCKING MARKET CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS T he Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last month began its congressionally required study on whether truck drivers are more fatigued and less safe under the 2013 hours-of- service restart provisions or under pre-2013 rules. The agency now has the study listed under its Research and Analysis section, where it gives brief information on its back - ground – the 2015 appropriations act signed by President Obama in December – and a summary of how it is being conducted. The study will be comprised of two groups of drivers – one that abides by pre-2013 rules and another by post-2013 rules. FMCSA must study the groups for five months and assess crashes and near crashes, as well as operator fatigue, alertness and health. The agency will use items such as electronic logging devices, psychomotor vigilance tests, actigraph watches, onboard cameras and sleepiness scales to make its conclusions about operator fatigue and alertness. The study will be reviewed by a panel made up of people with "medical and scientific exper - tise," notes FMCSA's summary. The agency's conclusions then must be reviewed by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General. M exican motor car- riers soon will be able to apply for authority to oper- ate beyond the U.S.-Mexico com- mercial border zone, bringing the United States into more complete compliance with North American Free Trade Agreement require- ments, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced Jan. 9. The agency's move comes less than three months after the end of a three-year cross-border pilot program with Mexico, which was implemented in 2011 to gather data on the operational safety of Mexican carriers participating in the program and to test the feasibility of opening the border to Mexican trucking companies. Despite a report by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General and FMCSA's own Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee noting that low participa- tion in the pilot program made its data invalid, the agency pointed out that the 15 participating carriers had no higher rate of safety violations than U.S. carriers and drivers; in fact, their numbers were slightly better. All Mexican carriers that apply for DOT operating authority will have to pass a Pre-Authorization Safety Audit to ensure they manage hours-of-service compliance and adhere to U.S. drug test- ing laws, FMCSA said. Drivers will be required to have a U.S. commercial driver's license or a Mexican Licencia Federal de Conductor and also must meet English language proficiency requirements. FMCSA said the vehicles of carriers admitted to the program will be required to undergo standard Level 1 inspections every 90 days for at least four years. DOT said the policy will end about $2 billion in tariffs imposed on U.S. goods by Mexico as a retaliatory measure for the United States not meeting its NAFTA obligations. The tariffs have been in place since 2001 when a NAFTA panel determined the United States was not complying with NAFTA cross-border trucking provisions. FMCSA said the num- Scan the QR code with your smartphone or visit ccjdigital.com/news/subscribe-to-news- letters to sign up for the CCJ Daily Report, a daily e-mail newsletter filled with news, analy- sis, blogs and market condition articles. COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | FEBRUARY 2015 11 34-hour restart study underway Mexican carriers can apply for U.S. operating authority Continued on page 20 FMCSA's move follows the end of a three-year cross- border pilot program with Mexico. Continued on page 20