Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance

Truck brake-light exemption denied despite industry support

Truck with brake lights on highway

An application from a company specializing in pulsating brake lights for trucks has been denied by federal regulators despite strong support from the trucking industry.

Fayetteville, Arkansas-based Intellistop Inc., which makes a device that prompts preexisting brake lights to pulse briefly for added safety when brakes are engaged (see video, below), had sought an industrywide exemption from federal regulations that require all commercial vehicles be equipped with steady-burning brake lamps.

Intel...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truck-brake-light-exemption-denied-despite-industry-support

FMCSA considering electronic IDs for all trucks

Truck with wifi symbol

A rulemaking ordered under the Obama administration will consider whether all trucks should be outfitted with a unique ID, overhauling the way trucks are inspected.

The advanced notice of proposed rulemaking is to be published in the Federal Register on Friday. It is in response to a request in February 2015 by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance to reconsider a similar request by CVSA that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration denied in 2013.

In November 2015 under FMCSA...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-considering-electronic-ids-for-all-trucks

What should drivers expect at a weigh station stop?

Truck weigh station in Greenwich Township, N.J.

Unless a truck is equipped with a bypass preclearance device, most states require commercial vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds to stop at every weigh station along the truck’s route. What can a driver expect at a station?

In addition to rolling over a weigh-in-motion scale to ensure the truck is operating under federal and/or state weight limits, drivers should be prepared for some level of inspection. And it usually starts as soon as the truck enters the facility.

“When you’re reporting to a...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/what-should-drivers-expect-at-a-weigh-station-stop

When the rubber meets the road, how will autonomous trucks handle blowouts?

A mangled tire on the rim of a semi

Tire blowouts lead to dozens of highway deaths every year. For autonomous trucks, they pose a prickly problem: how to regain control without a human driver at the wheel.

“We can talk about redundancy in our sensors, machine-learning algorithms and all this fancy stuff until we’re blue in the face,” said Don Burnette, co-founder and CEO of Kodiak Robotics. “But at the end of the day, if you press the brake pedal and your tires don’t respond, it’s not useful.”

Kodiak is working with Bridgestone...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/when-the-rubber-meets-the-road-how-will-autonomous-trucks-handle-blowouts

Is FMCSA losing control of its safety mission?

Federal regulators are losing their grip on how they administer and oversee rules governing truckers, and it’s putting safety at risk, trucking and safety advocates warn.

In comments filed with U.S. Department on Transportation on the department’s draft strategic framework, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), whose members include local, state and federal truck safety officials, contends that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration “has fallen behind on its core responsibility...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/is-fmcsa-losing-control-of-its-safety-mission

CVSA gets contract to run FMCSA’s fatigue management program

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) will now operate the North American Fatigue Management Program, a multipronged approach toward reducing the incidence of fatigue behind the wheel.

The program, known as NAFMP, was awarded to CVSA to manage after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a “sole source contract” to CVSA, according to Rodolfo Giacoman. He is the Fatigue Management Program specialist at CVSA and responded to a series of questions sent to him by FreightWaves.

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/cvsa-gets-contract-to-run-fmcsas-fatigue-management-program

Brake Safety Week begins Aug. 22

Coinciding with Brake Safety Awareness Month, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has slated Brake Safety Week for Aug. 22-28, meaning drivers and carriers have just a few more days to tighten up on brake safety.

Over the seven-day period, inspectors will conduct North American Standard Inspections of commercial motor vehicles with a focus on brake systems and components, removing any inspected vehicle found to have brake-related out-of-service violations. CVSA will then compile data...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/brake-safety-week-begins-aug-22

Roadcheck Week results: HOS violations a bigger share of all citations

A comparison of the just-released results from International Roadcheck Week shows that hours-of-service (HOS) violations in both the U.S. and Canada rose as a percentage of all violations between 2020 and 2021. 

The data from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance shows most trends and percentages of violations were roughly in line with where they were during the 2020 checks, with the exception of HOS.

Roadcheck Week, which encompasses the U.S., Canada and Mexico, was held May 4-6. Many drivers...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/roadcheck-week-results-hos-violations-a-bigger-share-of-all-citations

Check lights and logs before next week’s safety blitz

With the International Roadcheck just a week away, now’s your last chance to dot your i’s and cross your t’s in and around your truck and trailer.

Most vehicle violations are easily preventable — if proper precautions are routinely taken. Reliance Partners Director of Safety Brian Runnels provides a few simple tips to ensure a roadside inspection doesn’t leave you on the roadside.

What is Roadcheck 2021?

International Roadcheck Week is slated for May 4-6. Each year, the Commercial Vehicle Safety...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/check-lights-and-logs-before-next-weeks-safety-blitz

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