FMCSA To Study Safety Impact of Heavier Vehicles

DOT Safety Regulation Update Fast-Fax™
Week of April 9, 2012
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FMCSA and FHWA are partnering to collect safety data from roadside inspections on vehicles exceeding certain weight levels. This is part of a study to determine if there is an association between higher vehicle weights and safety violations.

FMCSA EOBR Listening Session Coming Up

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Federal Highway Administration have announced plans to fund a study of heavier vehicles to see if there is a correlation between them and safety violations.

The study will actually be undertaken by the individual state agencies responsible for roadside inspections. FMCSA and FHWA are providing financial backing to fund them.

Who are They Looking For?

So who exactly are they looking for? According to an FMCSA spokesman, it is a mix of both illegally and permitted overweight vehicles. However, inspectors will be concentrating on more common vehicles. For example, they wouldn’t be as interested in “a 13-axle super-heavy.”

Safety Correlation

FMCSA is trying to determine if there is a correlation between vehicles that are overweight and other safety violations; especially those that would lead to the vehicle being placed out of service.

While the agency isn’t giving much information as to why they are conducting this study, this isn’t the first time FMCSA has been investigating the safety of heavier vehicles in the past few months. Earlier in the year, Congress was looking at allowing heavier trucks on the highway as an amendment to a spending bill.

More details about the study will be published in the next few weeks. As always, Fast-Fax will keep you up-to-date when we have more information.

FMCSA and FHWA are partnering to collect safety data from roadside inspections on vehicles exceeding certain weight levels. This is part of a study to determine if there is an association between higher vehicle weights and safety violations.

FMCSA EOBR Listening Session Coming Up

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has announced a public listening session on the controversial Electronic On-Board Recorder (EOBR) issue.

FMCSA has announced details for the latest EOBR listening session. Truckers in the Seatlle area are encouraged to attend the Bellevue, WA session. Others will be able to submit comments, opinions and concerns via a number of methods.

Attend:

The listening session will be held on Thursday, April 26, 2012,at the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) meeting in Bellevue, WA. The listening session will run from 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m., with a break between 3:30 p.m. and 4 p.m., and continue from 4 p.m.-5:30 p.m. local time at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue, 900 Bellevue Way NE., Bellevue, WA 98004, telephone: (425) 462- 1234 and fax: (425) 646-7567. The session will be held in the Grand Ballroom IJK on the 2nd floor.

Attend Online:

There will be a webcast. FMCSA has not released the information with this yet, in the past, the details have appeared on the main FMCSA website a day or two before the event. If you miss the session you will be able to watch a recording on the FMCSA website.

Comment:

If you can’t attend, you can still make your voice heard. You can submit comments by the following methods:

Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.

Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.

Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

Fax: 1-202-493-2251.

All comments must include the agency’s name and the following Docket ID number: FMCSA-2010-0167

Editor: Roxanne Swidrak, Vice President, Operations • 1-800-253-5506 • www.FoleyServices.com • Vol. 111, No. 733 • © Foley Carrier Services, LLC. 2011