Safety

The Transportation Security Administration has awarded a contract to Triumph Enterprises Inc. to continue a program, initially started by American Trucking Associations, to train commercial drivers to spot possible terrorist activities on U.S. highways, according to a memo obtained by Transport Topics.

American Trucking Associations launched a program last week aimed at training young trucking executives to become leaders within the association through a yearlong series of educational and networking sessions.

AUSTIN, Texas — Anne Ferro, the nation’s top truck safety official, told tank truck executives here that while she salutes their commitment to safety, she is determined to use her agency’s authority to eliminate unsafe carriers and bad commercial drivers.

Federal officials said Thursday they have shut down four Kansas trucking companies, alleging that three of them are reincarnations of the fourth and that they were created to avoid financial penalties and an out-of-service order.

The federal government issued guidelines Tuesday to encourage automakers to limit the potential for driver distractions from electronic systems built into passenger cars, including those that connect to cellphones and the Internet.

American Trucking Associations Vice Chairman Phil Byrd said Tuesday that law enforcement agencies must do more to focus on the unsafe behavior of drivers, both commercial and noncommercial, in order to achieve safety improvements.

LAS VEGAS — A Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration advisory subcommittee has recommended withholding from public view at least three safety score categories that are part of its Compliance, Safety, Accountability program until underlying data problems are corrected.

Scammers posing as trucking company recruiters are defrauding truck drivers into giving them hundreds of dollars in exchange for jobs that do not exist, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration warned.

Trucking failures doubled in the first quarter of 2013, reaching the highest level in nearly two years, and will keep rising because fleets’ costs are increasing twice as fast as revenue, according to a new investment report.

At any given daylight moment, about 660,000 automobile drivers are using a cellphone or manipulating an electronic device, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.