Trucking Alliance

Feds told to start rating ‘unrated’ trucking companies for safety

WASHINGTON — Major trucking companies and brokers who book their freight are pressuring the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to attach a safety rating to carriers operating without such a rating — a situation that exists for over 90% of the freight market.

The concern comes as FMCSA looks at developing a new way to verify when a motor carrier is fit to operate trucks in interstate commerce, known as a safety fitness determination (SFD). The agency issued a preliminary advance notice...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/feds-told-to-start-rating-unrated-trucking-companies-for-safety

Trucking Alliance, same 9 members, continues to chart its own path on regulation

In the sweep of trucking-related trade groups, there is really nothing quite like The Trucking Alliance. 

It started with nine members more than 10 years ago; it has the same nine members and isn’t taking applications for new ones. (However, it will be losing one, U.S. Xpress, when it is acquired by Knight-Swift. But Knight-Swift is a member too, so it could be argued the organization isn’t shrinking.)

Whereas most trade groups actively seek to bring in new members, the Alliance does no such...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trucking-alliance-same-nine-members-continues-to-chart-its-own-path-on-regulation

Trucking, safety groups line up against anti-speed limiter bill

WASHINGTON — An owner-operator-backed bill aimed at preventing a speed mandate for trucks is getting heavy pushback from safety groups aligning with small-business trucking’s big-business competition.

A coalition that includes Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Truck Safety Coalition, the National Safety Council (NSC) and Road Safe America are lobbying lawmakers to oppose the Deregulating Restrictions on Interstate Vehicles and Eighteen Wheelers Act, known as the DRIVE Act, which was...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trucking-safety-groups-line-up-against-anti-speed-limiter-bill

Minority and independent truckers challenge hair testing for drugs

Truck at medical clinic

A drug-screening proposal that would raise the bar for thousands of truck drivers seeking work is getting strong pushback from independent and minority drivers.

An exemption request, filed with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in August by 11 major trucking companies, would effectively require that hair test results used by those companies to screen drivers for drug abuse be reported in the FMCSA’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse. Those results would then be available to any...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/minority-and-independent-truckers-challenge-hair-testing-for-drugs

FMCSA-reported drug-test violations grew 10% in 2021

Drug violations for truck drivers increased 10.2% in 2021 over 2020 in the first full-year data comparison compiled by the federal Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse.

While the number of actual positive drug tests increased only 3.1% to 55,223 (refusing to take a test is also considered a violation), a year-to-year comparison of 15 drug categories within the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration-run clearinghouse revealed that positive tests for cocaine and marijuana increased 10.4% (7,940 to...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-reported-drug-test-violations-grew-10-in-2021

Los camioneros consumen más cocaína que marihuana, según un estudio

Un nuevo estudio revela que el Departamento de Transporte de Estados Unidos puede estar subregistrando el abuso de cocaína por parte de los conductores de camiones, un hallazgo que podría poner más presión sobre los reguladores federales para permitir las pruebas de cabello como una alternativa a las pruebas de orina para la detección de drogas antes de la contratación por parte de las empresas de transporte.

Dado que el Centro de Intercambio de Información sobre Drogas y Alcohol de la...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/los-camioneros-consumen-mas-cocaina-que-marihuana-segun-un-estudio

Truckers using cocaine more than marijuana, study finds

A new study reveals that the U.S. Department of Transportation may be underreporting cocaine abuse by truck drivers, a finding that could put more pressure on federal regulators to allow hair testing as an alternative to urine testing for preemployment drug screening by trucking companies.

Because the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse does not allow hair test results to be included in the database, DOT “is seriously underreporting the actual use of harder...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truckers-using-cocaine-more-than-marijuana-study-finds

Will team drivers need to be vaccinated or tested for COVID-19?

With the trucking industry breathing a sigh of relief late last week after concluding solo truck drivers aren’t going to fall under the Biden administration’s vaccine rule, attention immediately turned to another question: What about team drivers?

The answer is that nobody is really sure. But it’s hard to see a way in which team drivers would not be required to be vaccinated or face a testing regime if they are working for a company with more than 100 employees given the provisions of the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/will-team-drivers-need-to-be-vaccinated-or-tested-for-covid-19

Viewpoint: DOT ignoring key test to stop drug-impaired truckers

Hair testing for drugs

Lane Kidd is managing director of The Trucking Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of freight and logistics companies dedicated to improving the safety and security of their commercial truck drivers and motorists. The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FreightWaves or its affiliates. 

By Lane Kidd

On June 25, 2015, a truck driver with methamphetamines in his system was traveling north on Interstate 75, near Chattanooga, Tennessee....

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/viewpoint-dot-ignoring-key-test-to-stop-drug-impaired-truckers