Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/614640
4 www.FlatbedTruckingJobs.com January 2016 BEST PRACTICES version of the highway bill fl at lines FMCSA's budget for the next six years. In real terms this represents an 11 percent decrease in funding, he said. "Some of you may think that's a good thing, and that's okay, but it does make it diffi cult to do new programs," he said. Despite limited resources, he estimates that FMCSA will be able to have a crash preventability program running in six months after the bill passes. Beyond Compliance is a program in- cluded in the Senate version of the highway bill, and is required to be implemented before CSA scores go public again. The intent is for carriers to be given credit for doing things above compliance such as installing collision avoidance technologies. The program is a good idea, Quade said, but "we are not best people to run it" due to limited resources to verify that fl eets are actually doing what they claim. "We have 400 investigators for 500,000 trucking companies. We do not have enough people to get to the worst compa- nies, much less divert people to companies that are doing extra things," he said. Another diffi cult-to-implement program in the highway bill is CDL training for drivers under the age of 21. "I have mixed feelings about this. I am more comfortable doing a pilot before implementing nation- ally," he said. "The stats say that inexperi- enced drivers are much, much less safe." Quade then gave an update on upcoming rules from the FMCSA: • E-log and driver coercion rules have cleared the White House's Offi ce of Management and Budget. Soon, the agency plans to hold webinars to "make sure everybody understands what is and what is not required, and when," he said. • The Safety Fitness Determination proposed rule will be reviewed by OMB "soon," he said, and published before Christmas. The proposal uses on-road per- formance data to rate companies. The rule will allow the agency to keep ratings current on more carriers. Currently, safety ratings are given to carriers after on-site compli- ance reviews. FMCSA is able to visit 15,000 carriers a year, but there are about 500,000 registered carriers, he said. Once published, FMCSA plans to do a webinar to explain the differences between the current Safety Measurement System and the new rule. • A proposed rule for entry level driver training will be available in the near future for comments, he said. • A CDL Drug and Alcohol Clearing- house Final Rule will be published in early 2016. The rule would create a database of drivers who have failed or refused to take a drug or alcohol test. Carriers would then be required to query the database when making hires and upload drug testing information. Quade said the database will "take some time" to implement once the rule is published. • A rule to mandate the use of speed limiters on heavy trucks is cur- rently being reviewed by the OMB. • A proposed rule, perhaps available in 2016, will streamline the transition of military members to CDL holders in civilian life. "We're going to get to point where when you come out of the military you will get a regular CDL," he said. F