Safety

Fatalities in U.S. highway accidents involving large trucks increased 8.7% in 2010, the first increase in four years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said last week.

Federal regulators have accepted a petition from several trade organizations who have complained that fluctuating federal hazardous materials safety permit requirements are causing some safe motor carriers to loose their eligibility and even cease operations.

The Department of Transportation announced a final rule that will ban interstate truck and bus drivers from using hand-held cellphones while operating their vehicles.

There is every reason to believe that 2012 will be a good year for the trucking industry, based on what’s happened so far this year and on reasonably strong U.S. economic growth projections.

Usually, when you work for a federal regulatory agency and you’ve got good news to report, the rule is to shout it out as loudly as possible and as many times as possible from as many places as possible.

ATLANTA — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will scrutinize the divisive, nagging issue of trucker detention at shippers’ docks, focusing on how these delays affect trucking safety and what the agency’s regulatory options are, Administrator Anne Ferro said last week.

Major gains in truck highway safety were confirmed recently when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration posted the final results of 2009 crash data showing that fatalities in truck-involved crashes fell to the lowest level in history.

A day after announcing its bankruptcy filing, Trailer Bridge said late Thursday that its stock will be delisted by Nasdaq on Nov. 28.

House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) has sent a letter to his counterpart in the Senate congratulating her on the introduction of a surface transportation bill but taking issue with her two-year approach.