Safety

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will publish its final rule on electronic onboard recorders during 2008, Administrator John Hill said.

Kudos to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for reaffirming its new hours-of-service rules for commercial drivers and removing much of the uncertainty that has hung over these rules since the recent court action vacating portions of it.

The Department of Transportation said Tuesday it is asking private industry, research organizations, and state and local governments for commercially available technology to fight congestion and improve the safety within the U.S. transportation system.

Smith Electric Vehicles said it plans to establish a factory in the United States to produce up to 10,000 battery-powered trucks a year, starting in 2010.

The Canadian province of Ontario has issued 15,000 new high-tech driver licenses to help combat identity theft, the Associated Press reported.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, in a long-awaited response to a ruling striking down key portions of its driver hours-of-service regulation, said it would continue allowing drivers 11 hours behind the wheel daily and letting them reset the weekly limit after a 34-hour break.

Truck trailer sales and production continued to lag through the third quarter, with U.S. registrations of new units down 24.7%, year-over-year, and the decline of industrywide production levels accelerating.

The number of people killed in large-truck crashes for every mile driven and the rate of fatal crashes involving large trucks fell to all-time lows in 2006, according to a Transport Topics analysis of data from the Department of Transportation.

Retail diesel posted its largest weekly decline of 2007, falling 9.1 cents to $3.325 a gallon following recent inventory gains and lower crude oil prices, the Department of Energy reported.