LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is “just about ready” to propose regulatory guidance that would urge medical examiners to require that some obese truck drivers be screened for obstructive sleep apnea before being allowed to drive, an agency official said.

Law enforcement officers have recently observed several commercial drivers and vehicles with fraudulent licenses and license plates that purport to be issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation or the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has appointed five representatives from motor carrier stakeholder groups to its Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee, FMCSA said Friday.

Motor vehicle deaths in the United States increased 5% last year, the first annual increase since 2005, the National Safety Council said in a preliminary analysis it released Tuesday.

In the wake of two West Coast bus crashes that each killed multiple passengers within weeks of each other, federal officials have launched a crackdown on unsafe bus operations, in which officers and auditors will investigate high-risk motorcoach companies.

The majority of serious crashes involving cars and heavy trucks are caused by driver factors such as speeding or failure to stay in lane by the automobile drivers, according to a report released by American Trucking Associations.

In the wake of a federal safety report that showed a significant rise in truck-occupant fatalities, heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers said that they have been working on ways to improve the safety of their offerings.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The use of police accident reports as the sole basis to assign fault in truck-involved crashes is not always a reliable method, an accident reconstruction expert told a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration advisory panel last week.

A House subcommittee on highways has targeted some of the top issues for the trucking industry in its oversight plan for the next two years, including the hours-of-service rule for truck drivers and the Compliance, Safety, Accountability ratings program.

A group of shippers, brokers and small motor carriers told a federal court that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new carrier safety ratings are “confusing, ever-changing, mercurial and capricious in their effects on carriers.”