Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1002866
22 | Overdrive | July 2018 Logbook Truck inspectors will ramp up enforcement Sept. 16-22 during the Commercial Ve- hicle Safety Alliance's annual Brake Safety Week. The blitz returns to a weeklong event after being pared down to a single day last year. CVSA said most of the inspections performed during the September operation will be full Level I inspections, the most comprehensive. However, inspectors will have a keen focus on brake components, including loose or missing parts; air or hydraulic fluid leaks; defective rotor conditions; measurement of pushrod trav- el; mismatched air chamber sizes across axles; air reservoir integrity and mounting; worn linings, pads, drums or rotors; and required brake-system warning devices. – Overdrive Staff Last year, 14 percent of trucks inspected during the one-day brake safety initiative were placed out of service for brake-related violations. DAIMLER TRUCKS North America recalled 1,219 model-year 2018-19 Freightliner Cascadia tractors because of potential improper installment of the driver's air bag module. Call DTNA at 800-547- 0712. The recall number is FL-771. MACK TRUCKS is adding a high-efficiency 13-liter engine and its HE+ package as options on Anthem models. Anthems equipped with the SmartWay-certified MP8HE engine and HE+ package with an mDrive automated manual transmission are designed to deliver up to a 9.5 percent fuel-efficiency improvement compared to a base MP8-equipped Anthem model. The MP8HE uses waste energy from the engine's exhaust system and converts it to mechanical energy that increases torque. TWO TRUCK STOPS were totally burned within four days. On May 31, a fire destroyed the Irish Bayou Truck Stop and Casino off Interstate 10, just north of New Orleans. On June 3 in Matthews, Missouri, a Flying J travel center burned to the ground. No one was injured in either fire, both of which remain under investigation. CHRISTINE CLARK, owner of Shelton, Wash- ington-based Premium Drug Screening, was sentenced to three years of probation for her role in defrauding companies that hired her to ad- minister U.S. Department of Transportation drug testing programs. Between 2009 and 2015, Clark fabricated nearly 500 DOT drug test reports. AZIZ AKHROROV, a Queens, New York-based trucker, pleaded guilty to conspiring to unlaw- fully produce commercial driver's licenses. From 2014 to 2016, Akhrorov and Taras Chabanovych, a co-conspirator in Florida, collaborated on fraudulent Florida CDLs that were issued to New York-based applicants, who later exchanged the fakes for legitimate New York CDLs. TRUCKERS IN RHODE ISLAND began receiv- ing bills on June 11 for two toll locations. The first location is between exits 2 and 3 on I-95 and is charging truckers $3.25 once per day in each direction when passing under the gantry. The second location is between exits 4 and 5 on I-95 and is charging truckers $3.50 once per day in each direction. A total of 14 toll locations are planned, and the Rhode Island Department of Transportation expects construction will begin or be completed on those locations within the next 18 months. Max Heine Brake inspection blitz set for September Bill would make modest hours changes, cut supporting docs A House bill filed last month would institute minor reforms to hours of service regulations and allow the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to move more quickly on any rulemaking meant to provide drivers with more split-sleeper berth options. The Honest Operators Undertake Road Safety Act (HOURS Act, H.R. 6178) introduced by Reps. Rick Crawford (R-Arkansas), Sanford Bishop (D-Georgia) and Bruce Westerman (R-Arkansas) is backed by the American Trucking Associations. The bill would allow drivers hauling livestock and agriculture com- modities to be exempt from HOS limits and duty status records en- tirely if operating within a 150-air-mile radius of the source of their haul regardless of state-designated harvesting and planting seasons. The bill also would cut the number of supporting documents all carriers and drivers are required to keep to verify their logs. Current regulations require drivers to maintain at least eight documents for their 24-hour work period, including fuel receipts, bills of lading and dispatch records. The HOURS Act would cut that to two documents — one to verify the start of their workday and one to verify the end of it. Relative to split-sleeper berth flexibility, the bill would allow FMCSA to speed up the rulemaking process should it pursue a rule to allow drivers to split their off-duty sleeper berth time into segments. Lastly, the HOURS Act would allow all short-haul operators to be exempt from hours regulations and the ELD mandate if they com- plete their workday within a 14-hour period. – James Jaillet