Safety
Transportation businesses face a host of dynamic risk issues that can significantly impact their financial and operational health. The news in this category focuses on the latest safety and security initiatives, resources and regulations and addresses topics that include fleet safety, claims administration, driver hiring and retention, risk management and compliance.
PHMSA Seeks to Eliminate Requirements for Special Permits to Haul Certain Hazmats
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has proposed a rule that would eliminate requirements for special permits to haul some hazmats, ranging from liquefied petroleum gas to anhydrous ammonia fertilizers.
August 2, 2010Senate Bill Would Require DOT to Issue Plan to Resolve U.S.-Mexico Trucking Impasse
The Obama administration must produce a plan to solve the ongoing border trucking dispute with Mexico by October, under a provision inserted in the Transportation Department’s 2011 budget.
August 2, 2010NAFTA Surface Trade Rises in May
Surface transportation trade among the United States, Canada and Mexico jumped 39.5% in May, the largest increase since records began, the Department of Transportation said Thursday.
July 29, 2010ATRI Updates Idling Regulation Guide
The American Transportation Research Institute has updated its online guide of state and local anti-idling regulations, the group said Thursday.
July 29, 2010LaHood Announces National Summit on Distracted Driving
The second National Distracted Driving Summit will be held Sept. 21 in Washington, D.C., Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced.
July 28, 2010Opinion: Shippers Face a Carriers’ Market
The exodus of drivers during the economic downturn is creating a driver shortage as the economy begins to recover. Add to this escalating costs for carriers complying with new federal regulations for tractors, trailers and communications and you have a recipe for reduced capacity and higher prices.
July 28, 2010LaHood Rules Out Fuel Tax Increase
WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood rejected raising fuel taxes to pay for highway improvements and said that, despite pessimism about the prospects for a long-term highway bill, the administration was focused on completing a bill this year.
Feds Lack Tools to Track Bridge Spending In States
Twenty-five percent of the nation’s 603,000 bridges are structurally deficient in some way, but the federal government lacks the analytic and procedural tools to determine what impact federal bridge money would have in addressing the problem, a Government Accountability Office report said.
P.A.M. Reports Second-Quarter Profit
P.A.M. Transportation Services reported a profit of $1.3 million in the second quarter, compared with a $2.4 million loss a year ago.
July 27, 2010Rendell Pleads for Special Session to Address Transportation
In a plea to the Pennsylvania State Legislature to hold a special session on transportation funding, Gov. Edward Rendell (D) recently told members of the Senate Transportation Committee that, collectively in their 13 districts, they have 1,970 structurally deficient bridges.
