U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood Announces $13 million in Quick Release Emergency Relief Funds for Hurricane Sandy Damage in New York and Rhode Island

Additional Funding Expected as States Continue Damage Assessments

WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced he is making $13 million in quick release emergency relief funds immediately available to New York and Rhode Island to help begin repairing the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, while assessments continue throughout the Northeast to determine the full extent of the damage. Today's announcement follows President Obama’s call for federal agencies to act quickly and bring all available resources to bear as quickly as possible.  It also builds on the disaster assistance for these states approved by President Obama in the last several days, including the major disaster declaration approved for New York early today, which make federal assistance - like these emergency relief funds - available to supplement state and local response and recovery efforts.

The $13 million represents 100 percent of the state-requested funds - $10 million from New York and $3 million from Rhode Island. These two requests are just the first to arrive at the Department of Transportation and represent the first installment of federal-aid highway funds to help repair roads, bridges and tunnels in these two states. DOT is expecting other states impacted by Hurricane Sandy to apply for additional emergency relief funding in the coming days.

“President Obama has directed us to immediately help restore vital transportation infrastructure following this unprecedented and devastating storm – and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” said Secretary LaHood. "These emergency relief funds are just a down payment on our commitment to all of the states impacted by Hurricane Sandy.”

Quick release emergency funds provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will be used to pay for a variety of repairs to roads and bridges that are immediately necessary. Rhode Island will use the funding to repair damaged sea walls supporting roadways; New York will use it for general emergency repairs to federal aid highways.

“This funding is only the first step in the difficult process of helping the region recover,” said Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez. "The federal government stands ready to assist in helping affected states repair roads and bridges so that residents can begin to resume daily activities.”

To further speed access to critical repair funds, Secretary LaHood held a conference call Tuesday afternoon with officials from 14 impacted states to outline how they can apply for quick release emergency relief funding. Secretary LaHood also described other steps the Department of Transportation has taken to assist states, including an Eastern Regional Emergency Declaration from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to temporarily lift hours-of-service requirements and other regulations to assist interstate motor carrier drivers and operators providing direct emergency relief.

FHWA's emergency relief program provides funds for the repair or reconstruction of federal-aid roads and bridges damaged by natural disasters or catastrophic events. Restoring critical infrastructure is essential to enabling first responders and relief workers to access impacted communities and to quickly restoring services to impacted residents.

Arlington, VA – The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) has launched a new survey today that explores the use of navigation systems by commercial drivers. This brief online survey, which seeks both commercial driver and motor carrier input, will capture information on the attitudes of both groups toward navigation systems including perceived benefits and risks.

While navigation systems are becoming increasingly commonplace in the nation’s commercial vehicles, the impact that these devices have on driver behavior, decision making and safety is not fully understood. There is mounting anecdotal evidence that GPS navigation units are being blamed for large truck crashes where “bridge strikes” and other crashes in which the truck driver was using a navigation system designed for passenger vehicles have been high profile events.

The results of this survey will provide further insight on the use of these systems and their impact in commercial trucking operations, as well as the impacts that other methods for providing directions to drivers might have on fleet safety and operations. The research results will also provide an opportunity for the public sector to improve transportation operations and minimize infrastructure damage. Drivers and carriers are encouraged to complete the confidential survey, available on ATRI’s website at www.atri-online.org.

ATRI is the trucking industry’s 501(c)(3) not-for-profit research organization. It is engaged in critical research relating to freight transportation’s essential role in maintaining a safe, secure and efficient transportation system.

Source: ttnews.com/articles/basetemplate.aspx?storyid=29403

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Low participation by Mexican carriers in the cross-border trucking program could lead to the resumption of Mexican tariffs on U.S. goods, an official with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said.

Without more carriers participating, FMCSA cannot collect the safety data it needs to judge Mexican carriers’ safety, said Bill Quade, the agency’s associate administrator.

The result would be the failure of the program, which would mean U.S. officials could not permanently allow Mexican carriers into the country. That opens the door for Mexico to impose new tariffs on goods imported from the United States.

“The agency is extremely concerned about not having sufficient data,” Quade told a subcommittee of the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee, FMCSA’s main advisory board.

Quade said without sufficient data, “we cannot normalize relations with Mexico and start accepting applications for authority.”

He added the result is likely “Mexico putting tariffs back on United States goods.”

The Department of Transportation is confident that the program will be successful, said Justin Nisly, DOT’s press secretary.

“The cross-border trucking agreement we signed with Mexico last year ended crippling tariffs on American farmers, and we are fully confident that over the next two and a half years, we will gather the data needed to make the program permanent,” he said Thursday.

Additionally, DOT and FMCSA are working with Mexican officials and the trucking industry there to encourage more carriers to apply, Nisly said.

When FMCSA developed pilot program last year, it said it would need about 43 Mexican carriers to make 4,100 crossings during the three-year program.

As of May 8, there were three carriers in the program, who had crossed 33 times, Quade said.

Each carrier has had one truck and one driver approved for the program, which was developed to comply with the North American Free Trade Agreement.

By Timothy Cama
Staff Reporter

Source: ttnews.com/articles/basetemplate.aspx?storyid=29403

Source: truckload.org/index.asp?bid=232&nid=326&archiveyear=2012

Marvin Garvey wasn’t about to ignore a distraught woman who looked like she could use a Highway Angel

Alexandria, Virginia:

When no one else will stop, it is often a professional truck driver who saves the day. The Truckload Carriers Association honors these individuals as Highway Angels, and the latest one is Marvin Garvey of Hampstead, North Carolina. Garvey, who drives for Epes Transport System, Inc., of Greensboro, North Carolina, is being recognized for the compassion he showed to a stranded motorist.

On August 19, 2012, in the late morning, Garvey was driving along I-85/I-40 near Greensboro, North Carolina, on his way to make a delivery. Traffic was very heavy, and up ahead, he heard horns honking and saw vehicles maneuvering around something. It turned out to be a woman whose car engine had stalled and would not turn back on. The woman was quite upset – in tears because she was stuck in the middle of heavy traffic with horns blaring at her. No one was stopping to help.

After passing her, Garvey pulled over, walked back to the scene, and pushed the woman’s vehicle onto the shoulder. He then calmed her down, telling her which way she was headed, where the closest exit was, and other pertinent information. At one point, he even walked back to his truck to check the GPS, wanting to be certain he had provided the correct details. He stayed with the woman until she managed to reach her brother on a cell phone.

The next day, the woman wrote a letter to Epes Transport praising Garvey for his assistance during her stressful ordeal. “He was really like an angel,” she said. “He could have possibly saved my life. Who knows how long it would have taken for someone to run right into me? I offered to pay him for his trouble, but he politely refused. He was a gentleman who went out of his way to help me. It is a rare thing in this day and time for someone to get involved.”

Garvey, who retired from the U.S. Army two years ago after a 20-year career, says that helping people is the “military thing to do.”

“I can’t believe how cold-hearted some people are,” he said, referring to the many motorists who saw what happened but kept on driving. “She was clearly frustrated. I just couldn’t leave her stranded in that danger zone.”

For his efforts to help the woman, Garvey has received a Highway Angel lapel pin, certificate, and patch. Epes Transport System also received a certificate acknowledging that one of its drivers is a Highway Angel.

The Highway Angel program is sponsored for TCA by Internet Truckstop. Since the program’s inception in August 1997, hundreds of drivers have been recognized as Highway Angels for the unusual kindness, courtesy, and courage they have shown others while on the job. TCA has received letters and e-mails from people across North America nominating truck drivers for the program.

Source: truckload.org/index.asp?bid=232&nid=326&archiveyear=2012

This announcement from FMCSA is to provide additional information and an update to the previous guidance and information provided regarding the Gateway Portal shut down on midnight Tuesday, Oct. 9th.
 
For your awareness: A State's ability to access CDLIS information on US and Canadian drivers continue without any interruption. The shutdown of the Gateway has no effect on State CDLIS transactions involving US and Canadian drivers.
 
A. For States that are sending convictions via CDLIS on MX drivers the CDL Division provides the following guidance:
 
Please re-send your convictions when the MX node is back up again. FMCSA will notify you when the MX node is back up. For more information about how to use UNI to re-drive your convictions automatically, please see the CDLIS System Specifications 5.2 document, page 10, Section 3.6 Message Retry.
 
B. For states that are sending convictions via paper on MX drivers:
 
Please send the paper convictions to the following new mailing address that has been provided by the new service provider:
 
OBXtek - FCWD
8300 Boone Blvd, Ste 550
Vienna, VA 22182-2681
 
You may also contact the following phone number and email address for any questions about paper convictions on MX drivers:
 
Helpdesk email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
 
Helpdesk Telephone: 1(855) 537-7517

By Eric Miller, Staff Reporter

This story appears in the Oct. 22 print edition of Transport Topics.

The Department of Transportation’s Inspector General has agreed to conduct an in-depth audit of the government’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program and to include a look at the relationship between carrier safety scores and crash risks.

The Oct. 12 audit request was made by Rep. John Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.), chairman of the House Transportation Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, and the ranking Democratic member, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.).

“Witnesses at the Sept. 13 [subcommittee] hearing raised concerns that a lack of adequate safety data, inappropriate weighting of violations and other scoring problems are causing CSA to erroneously label carrier safety performance,” said the audit request letter from the congressmen.

Peter Barber, an analyst with the DOT inspector general, confirmed last week that one focus of the audit probably will be on the relationship of CSA carrier safety data to crash risk. He spoke during a meeting of a specially appointed CSA subcommittee of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee.

Barber said the congressional subcommittee wants the audit completed by August, although an IG spokesman told Transport Topics that no specific timeline has been set.

The congressional audit request specifically called on the IG to “characterize the relationship between scores and future crash risk,” examine whether the weight given to each violation is tied to crash risk or crash severity, and if it is possible for carriers to “have high scores that erroneously reflect the fleet’s safety performance.”

Also, the subcommittee wants to know if it is possible for some carriers with potential safety problems to not be identified and targeted by CSA.

“FMCSA makes carriers’ scores public so that third parties involved in the transportation industry can make safety-based business decisions,” one of the audit questions in the letter said. “Given your findings, is a carrier’s CSA score an accurate portrayal of the safety of the carrier? If so, is this accurate for all” the components of the safety program, known as BASICs... Continue reading. (Log in to TTNEWS is Required.)
 

LAS VEGAS — Mike Card, president of Combined Transport, Central Point, Ore., was elected American Trucking Associations’ 68th chairman at ATA’s annual Management Conference & Exhibition here Wednesday.

“It is a tremendous honor to be selected by one’s peers to represent them,” said Card, who succeeded Dan England, chairman of C.R. England Inc., Salt Lake City, in the one-year position.

“It is not secret that our nation and our industry are at a crossroads,” Card said in a statement, “with looming changes in hours-of-service, a steady, but still slow, economic recovery, a federal government threatening to impose even more onerous regulations on our industry — while all the while underinvesting in the highway system we depend on.”

Speaking at ATA’s annual MCE banquet Wednesday evening, Card said being named chairman was “the highlight of my life [and] I’m going to do everything I can to expand the influence of ATA’s voice.”

He also said he is planning a trip to Mexico City in a few weeks to talk with Mexican trucking industry officials, as well as ATA’s Canadian counterpart, to help with cross-border trade issues.

“Mike is emblematic of what makes our industry great,” ATA President Bill Graves said in a statement. “The son of a driver-turned-entrepreneur and the leader of a family business, Mike will be a tremendous ambassador for ATA and for trucking,” Graves said.

By Transport Topics

John Sommers II for Transport Topics

LAS VEGAS — The shortage of truck drivers will worsen as the economy recovers and as the federal government adds more regulations, so it is critical the industry retains current drivers and attracts younger ones to the profession, a panel of experts said here Tuesday.

Ensuring drivers have more time at home, providing reliable equipment to company drivers and offering pay incentives and bonuses are all important steps that fleets should take, according to the discussion at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition.

Derek Leathers, president and chief operating officer of Werner Enterprises, said that through schedule adjustments, about 71% of his drivers get home at least once a week. That has helped lower turnover and attract more applicants.

Kevin Burch, president of Jet Express, said fleets need to set up mentoring programs so younger drivers gain valuable experience until they are old enough to drive trucks on their own.

Lou Spoonhour, president of Driveco Truck Driver Learning Center, urged ATA and fleets to join with training schools to tell lawmakers how important it is to increase funding for programs that can get new truck drivers on the road in as little as six weeks.

Kenny Veith, president of ACT Research, said the industry’s high turnover rates show that the problem is more about retention than an insufficient number of applicants. He was optimistic in saying that federal regulations will limit the total driving pool, thus tightening capacity and allowing for higher rates. As a result, he said fleets would more easily be able to boost driver pay and keep more of the existing driver workforce.

The session was moderated by Howard Abramson, publisher and editorial director of Transport Topics Publishing Group, and was sponsored by Freightliner Trucks.

Additional coverage of the discussion will appear in the Oct. 15 print edition of Transport Topics.

By Transport Topics

John Sommers II
for Transport Topics

LAS VEGAS – The trucking industry continues to face challenges, from federal regulations and a sluggish economy, to the threat of more tolling on the nation’s highways, said Bill Graves, president of American Trucking Associations.

“I honestly do believe that anyone who is operating in the trucking industry is at a crossroads – in fact you’re facing an entire series of crossroads – each one a decision point sending you in directions that will ultimately determine success or failure, profitability or loss, growth or stagnation,” Graves said Oct. 8 at the opening session of ATA’s Management Conference & Exhibition here.

The nation’s biggest problems are “the sluggish economy, a very dysfunctional federal government and the people of this nation who lack confidence that the economy will get better and that our government as its currently assembled in Washington isn’t capable of getting the job done,” he said.

Graves singled out the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program as a key example of how Washington is threatening trucking’s success.

He said the program will make the highways safer, but needs to be altered to ensure the data provides an accurate picture of carriers’ safety records.

Despite other challenges such as hours-of-service, more tolls and rising fuel prices, he said trucking was still well-positioned for the future.

“The essentiality of the industry and the demand for freight movement by truck – a growing demand for freight movement by truck – is unquestioned,” Graves said. “The long-term macro outlook for trucking has never been better, but the near-term micro view continues to be very challenging.”

By Transport Topics

The major issue in Congress for the remainder of the year is the looming deadline of January 1, 2013, when $1.2 trillion in cuts to defense and domestic spending begin to go into effect unless a deal is reached by Congress and the White House. The sequestration process seeks to curb $1.2 trillion in federal spending cuts over the next 10 years by enacting across the board cuts to most programs and is an "automatic" form of spending cutback. Generally, the law requires a cut somewhere between 7.8% to 8.4%, but it does exempt certain programs like Veterans Affairs programs, including VA benefits.

The law exempts Pell Grants from sequestration, but other student aid programs will be impacted. Specifically, Federal Work-Study, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG), and Workforce Investment (WIA) state grants would be cut by a combined amount of $330 million. The table below reflects the CBO sequestration estimate of 7.8%:

Sequestration would also affect student loan origination fees. The Department of Education does not currently charge an origination fee on Consolidation Loans. Under sequestration, origination fees on Direct Loan program loans made during the sequestration period would be required to be increased by a uniform percentage amount. For instance, if the uniform percentage was 10%, it appears that origination fees would be increased from 1% to 1.1% on Subsidized Stafford Loans and Unsubsidized Stafford Loans, and from 4% to 4.4% on PLUS Loans.

The sequestration will go into effect on January 2, 2013 unless Congress and the President address this issue in the lame duck Congress.