Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

FMCSA panel recommends ban on truck lease-purchase contracts

WASHINGTON — A federal task force has released its final report on trucking lease-purchase programs and recommended to Congress an action proposed at the task force’s first meeting in 2023: an all-out ban on such programs.

The 51-page report, issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Truck Leasing Task Force (TLTF), was sent to Congress and to the U.S. transportation and labor departments on Friday.

The task force was created by the U.S. Department of Transportation to...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-panel-recommends-ban-on-truck-lease-purchase-contracts

Trump administration could sideline female truckers’ anti-harassment agenda

WASHINGTON – Policies aimed at protecting and elevating women in the trucking industry will face tough new scrutiny by the incoming Trump administration.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration sent to Congress on Friday its status report on recommendations made by the Women of Trucking Advisory Board (WOTAB). The panel was created during the Biden administration to help recruit and retain women as owner-operators and within the ranks of trucking companies, with a focus on eradicating...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trump-administration-could-sideline-female-truckers-anti-harassment-agenda

Fight over truck broker contracts awaits Trump’s next move

WASHINGTON — In May 2020, President Donald Trump sided with owner-operators lining the National Mall with their rigs protesting alleged price gouging by truck brokers.

“All they want is to be treated fairly, and we’re going to treat them fairly,” Trump told hosts of the morning show “Fox & Friends” at the time. “They’re great people, and they’re successful. They have these big, beautiful trucks. … They’re not asking for much, so we’re going to take care of them.”

Truckers demonstrating in...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fight-over-truck-broker-contracts-awaits-trumps-next-move

FMCSA waives hours-of-service rules for truckers hauling heating fuel

WASHINGTON — Extreme cold weather across the U.S. has prompted federal regulators to issue an emergency hours-of-service exemption for truckers hauling heating fuel in 48 states and the District of Columbia.

The exemption to motor carrier work rules in 49 CFR § 395.3, issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Friday, is the most geographically expansive HOS exemption since a 50-state emergency waiver was issued at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

The current...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-waives-hours-of-service-rules-for-truckers-hauling-heating-fuel

FMCSA to gauge value of truck roadside warning devices

WASHINGTON — After declining to let autonomous trucking companies substitute cab-mounted warning beacons for ground-based devices to alert passing motorists of a disabled truck, federal regulators plan a deeper dive into how much crash protection traditional devices actually provide.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is looking for 256 drivers to collect data for an experimental study, “Warning Devices for Stopped Commercial Motor Vehicles.” FMCSA will use the data to evaluate...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-to-gauge-value-of-truck-roadside-warning-devices

Former FMCSA deputy hired by AI trucking company Plus

Autonomous trucking company Plus has hired former Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Deputy Administrator Earl Adams to lead the company’s public affairs and safety advocacy efforts and to advise the company on regulatory developments.

Earl Adams. Credit: Plus

“After nearly a decade on our autonomous journey, we are on the brink of commercializing autonomous trucks,” said Plus CEO and co-founder David Liu in a news release. “Earl’s unmatched experience in transportation policy and his...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/former-fmcsa-deputy-hired-by-ai-trucking-company-plus

Broker financial rule deadlines delayed despite trucker opposition

WASHINGTON — The deadline for complying with major provisions of a rule aimed at protecting trucking companies against unpaid claims from brokers will be pushed back a year despite strong opposition from owner-operators.

In a notice posted Monday, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration confirmed it will extend the deadlines for three provisions in its Broker and Freight Forwarder Financial Responsibility rule. It gave the public 26 days to respond to the planned extension, which it...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/broker-financial-rule-deadlines-delayed-despite-trucker-opposition

Regulators deny roadside warning exemption for autonomous trucks

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators ruled that autonomous trucking did not provide enough data backing a request to allow traditional warning devices used in roadside breakdowns to be replaced by cab-mounted beacons.

Waymo LLC and Aurora Operations (NASDAQ: AUR) filed a petition in 2023 with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration seeking an exemption – on behalf of the autonomous trucking industry – from rules requiring drivers to display ground-based reflective signs or road flares when a...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/regulators-deny-roadside-warning-exemption-for-autonomous-trucks

New drug hair testing guidelines delayed until May 2025

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has again pushed back its schedule for publishing revised mandatory guidelines for drug testing hair under testing programs used at federal agencies, including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The revised guidelines, originally scheduled to be published in June 2023, have been delayed until May 2025, according to the Office of Management and Budget’s fall regulatory agenda. The guidelines were pushed back twice...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/new-drug-hair-testing-guidelines-delayed-until-may-2025

FMCSA denies requests to alter accident reporting procedures

WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is moving ahead with changes proposed last year to its Crash Preventability Determination Program (CPDP) but has declined to make changes that motor carriers assert unfairly target drivers.

Under the CPDP, which FMCSA has been operating since May 2020, carriers and drivers can submit to FMCSA requests for data review, known as RDRs, to determine the preventability of a truck crash using 16 specific types of crash categories.

Last year,...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-denies-requests-to-alter-accident-reporting-procedures

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