New Mexico Group Will Lobby For Tax Reporting Change

The New Mexico Motor Carriers Assn. is trying to change the deadline for filing state weight-distance tax reports from the 25th day to the last day of each month.

A bill supported by NMMCA is being readied the New Mexico Tax and Revenue Department for legislators. NMMCA said it has been endorsed by the state Legislators Joint Tax Committee.

"It just gives you an extra week to get your reports done. Normally people do their fuel tax and weight distance tax at the same time, but we always had to have our weight distance tax done a week ahead of that," said Vic Sheppard, NMMCA managing director.

Virginia

he Virginia Tech Center for Transportation Research will conduct a study on driver fatigue and sleeper berth use.

The study, which will use sleeper cabs donated by PACCAR Inc. and Volvo Truck Corp., will examine how sleeper berth use affects drivers' alertness and performance. "We are interested in evaluating factors that impact the quality and quantity of sleep," explained Virginia Tech researcher Vicki Neale.

The Federal Highway Administration funded study will also compare the sleep needs of team drivers versus those who work solo.

Virginia Tech is recruiting owner operators and drivers from small companies to participate in the research, which will begin in December and end in August 2000.

Drivers will keep logs of their sleeping habits. These logs will then be compared with the drivers' performance, which will be measured by using video cameras and a system which records steering wheel and pedal positions, lane tracking and movement.