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Preparing for Hours of Service (HOS) Changes

 

The American Trucking Associations in preparation for the July 1st compliance date of the HOS final rulings has prepared this document on Training Tips.

 

 

 

ATEF and AZ DPS Produce Updated Educational Materials for Teenage Drivers

A  new "Teens & Trucks: Curbing Distracted Driving" curriculum was unveiled in October during Operation Air Brake.   Copies have been made available to all the state enforcement agencies across the country.




The original Teens & Trucks: Share the Road curriculum produced several years ago by the Arizona Trucking Association and Arizona Department of Public Safety is being used in 47 states and 8 Canadian provinces. The update is designed to teach teen drivers how to adapt many of the same tactics used by professional drivers to reduce or eliminate on-road distractions. The DVD also teaches teens and other drivers about the operating characteristics of large trucks, and explains how to safely share the road with them by staying out of the truck's "NO Zones" or blind spots. 



 

"Teens & Trucks: Curbing Distracted Driving" includes a 23-minute DVD and a CD containing a handout of key tips for reducing distractions, a "no-texting, no-distracted-driving" pledge form for teen drivers and their parents, instructor guidelines and two radio public service announcements that state agencies can tag with their own identifier.





"Defeating Distracted Driving," the educational training program released in 2011, will also be promoted and re-distributed for Operation Safe Driver Week. This kit includes a DVD, two 30-second PSAs, a tri-fold handout, a PowerPoint instructional kit, talking points and model policies for motor carriers about the dangers of distracted driving for use by fleets, driving schools and other outlets. All three of these training programs were developed in collaboration with the Arizona Transportation Education Foundation and Arizona Department of Public Safety with funding support from FMCSA.


 

For more information or to order copies of these DVD's go to http://www.cvsa.org/programs/index.php.

 

Significant CSA Changes Introduced by FMCSA

FMCSA   Administrator Anne Ferro has announced that several previously published changes to the CSA  program have been implemented.  Starting December 3rd, these changes were applied to the monthly update of carriers’ Safety Measurement System (SMS) scores. FMCSA   usually updates carriers’ scores on or about the 21st of each month, but chose to update the December scores early using the newly uploaded SMS changes.

 

Below is a summary of the SMS changes which took effect today:

• Moving load securement violations into the Vehicle Maintenance BASIC.
• Renaming the Cargo-Related BASIC the Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance BASIC. HM BASIC scores will not be made publicly available until December 2013. In the interim, they will only be available to motor carriers and law enforcement officials. The intervention threshold for the HM BASIC with be set at the 80th percentile.
• Reflecting in carriers’ public on-line records the percentage of their inspections that involve placarded quantities, to provide some context to their scores (e.g., if the carrier very infrequently transports placarded HM).
• Renaming the Fatigued Driving BASIC the Hours-of-Service (HOS) Compliance BASIC
• Attributing to motor carriers those violations found on equipment offered/provided by an intermodal equipment provider that should reasonably have been identified by the driver during his/her pre-trip inspection. A list of these violations is available at this link.
• Removing from consideration in the Unsafe Driving BASIC all speeding violations between 1 and 5 mph over the posted limit. This change will be made to all such violations retroactively (for the prior 24 months) and moving forward.
• Reducing to “1” the severity weight for those speeding violations where a mph is not indicated. This change will be made retroactively to all such violations that occurred on or after January 1, 2011 and moving forward.
• Making the severity weights for comparable EOBR and logbook violations the same. Previously some hours of service violations (e.g. form and manner; no logbook) carried more weight for paper logs than for EOBRs. Now, all form and manner violations (both paper and EOBR) will bear a weight of “1” and failing to have a log will carry a weight of “5.”
• Establishing new criteria for defining which carriers will be subject to the lower HM intervention thresholds in each BASIC. To be subject to the lower thresholds, carriers must either possess a HM safety permit or have at least two inspections in the prior 24 months involving a vehicle transporting a placarded quantity of HM, and with one of these inspections in the prior 12 months. Also, unless the carrier holds an HM safety permit, at least 5% of its inspections must involve a vehicle transporting a placarded quantity of HM.

Note: Even non-hazmat carriers can be assigned scores in the HM BASIC if they are cited for violations in that BASIC.

• Ensuring all recorded violations accurately correspond to the relevant inspection type. In other words, only driver violations (not vehicle violations) stemming from “driver-only” inspections will be counted and vice-versa.
• Changing the terms used to describe carriers that do not have enough inspections to be measured in a BASIC from “insufficient data” to “< than 5 inspections.”  Also, the performance of those without adequate violations to be scored will no longer be labeled “inconclusive,” but instead “no violations within 1 year.”
• Assigning a percentile score (e.g., 0%) to those carriers with a sufficient number of inspections, but otherwise lacking sufficient violations to be scored (does not have at least one violation).
• Revising the “Summary of Activities” section of a motor carrier’s information on the SMS website to separately list fatality and injury crashes.   

FMCSA is expected to propose, evaluate and implement additional changes on an on-going basis. To that end, FMCSA will likely propose another set of program improvements early next year. These proposed changes will likely include: 

• Adjustments to the severity weights assigned to violations.
• Fine-tuning the utilization factor used to incorporate vehicle mileage into the exposure measure in the Crash Indicator and Unsafe Driving BASIC
• Modifications to the safety event (peer) groups FMCSA uses to compare carriers of similar size and exposure.
  

The American Trucking Associations has stated that they will continue to advocate for changes that will result in a system that better identifies unsafe carriers and prioritizes them for intervention. 

 

 

 

 

 

ATA Safety Services & Info

 

ATA Endorsed Programs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Safety Resources

 

CSA Safety Measurement System (SMS) Website

Check your safety assessment now at FMCSA's Safety Measurement System website.

To log-in to the SMS website and review your fleet safety data, you will need an FMCSA-issued U.S. DOT Number Personal Identification Number (PIN) (NOT a Docket Number PIN).

If you do not know or have forgotten your PIN, request one from  FMCSA.  and select 'Click here to request your Docket Number PIN and/or USDOT Number PIN.' Be sure to request a U.S. DOT Number PIN, NOT a Docket Number PIN.

 

 

CARB Regulation Guidelines Offered By CTA

Because California is a major destination for Arizona carriers, keeping up the the changing CARB rules is a major concern.  The California Trucking Association has compiled a new 2012 CARB Guidelines to help truckers navigate these complex regulatory requirements.  It contains a new section detailing equipment dealer disclosure requirements.  Visit the CARB website for more information on compliance assistance and funding opportunities.

 

 

HAZMAT Safety Permits

The new criteria for 2011-2012 Hazardous Materials Safety Permits (HMSP) are posted here. An HMSP is required for carriers that transport certain explosives, PIH materials, highway route controlled radioactive materials, and liquefied natural gas. All hazmat carriers must have these permits by July 1, 2011. The new hazmat out-of-service thresholds have been significantly lowered and may be problematic for some carriers that currently hold an HMSP.