Safety

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has waived the federal hearing standard for 40 deaf or hard-of-hearing people who want to get commercial driver licenses, the agency said Friday.

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.”

Electric vehicles, which have soundless engines, would need to make noises to let pedestrians know they are near, under a rule proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Bloomberg News reported.

There has been substantive progress on more than half of 20 critical steps necessary to further reduce highway crashes, according to a new report released by American Trucking Associations on its progressive safety agenda.

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.”

Sales of Class 8 used trucks and orders for new trailers fell in November from the previous month, according to ACT Research.

While the attention of the nation was focused for much of the year on the costly and protracted presidential election campaign, trucking probably will look back on 2012 as a turning point for the adoption of natural gas as a viable alternative fuel for heavy-duty fleets.

Federal regulators weathered ongoing criticism of the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program during the year, as industry representatives, experts and researchers pushed for changes to it.

Steve Owings, president of Road Safe America, has been named chairman of the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee, which advises federal officials on truck and bus safety issues.