Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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JOURNAL NEWS INBRIEF 03/12 The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee and Medical Review Board adopted 11 recommenda- tions that include requiring all drivers with a body mass index measurement of 35 or higher to be tested for sleep apnea. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced $500 million in funding for transportation projects under a fourth round of the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant program. The previous three rounds of the TIGER program provided $2.6 billion to 172 projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The California Air Resources Board extended the Jan. 31 reporting date for its Truck and Bus Regulation to March 30 to give fleet owners more time to submit their fleet information. Reporting is required for fleet owners to take advan- tage of flexibility in the regulation. The Port of Oakland announced an independent study by the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California at Berkeley showed a 50 percent decline in diesel particulate matter emissions and a 40 percent decline in nitrogen oxide emissions from drayage trucks in the port harbor area following implementation of the port's Comprehensive Truck Management Program. Penske Truck Leasing and Penske Logistics announced plans to hire about 3,500 associates within its North American operations throughout 2012 due to increasing demand for its services as the transportation sector continues to recover. Planned hiring is in line with 2011 hiring, which exceeded internal expecta- tions by 74 percent over 2010. 12 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | MARCH 2012 Continued from page 11 cial drivers would be created. Also, direc- tives to study crashworthiness standards for large trucks and standards to expand use of electronic logging devices would be established. The bond for brokers and freight forwarders would be increased to $100,000 from $10,000. In addition, the bill would ensure that all federal user fees – including more than $8 bil- lion in diesel tax the trucking industry pays annually – go to highway projects. Another amendment stripped from the bill was a provision that would increase truck weight limits to 97,000 pounds from the current 80,000 pounds. State trucking associations and national trucking groups sent a letter to the Senate opposing an amendment to the bill that would allow additional interstate tolls. All 50 state trucking associations signed the letter, as did the American Trucking Associations, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and other industry groups. FMCSA HARMONIZES SCHEDULE I DRUG REQUIREMENTS T he Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a final rule to amend the physical qualifica- tions for drivers and the instructions for the medical examination report to clarify that drivers may not use Schedule I drugs and be qualified to drive commercial motor vehicles under any circumstances. The final rule also harmonizes FMCSA's provisions regarding pre-employment and return- to-duty test refusals with corresponding Department of Transportation-wide provisions. FMCSA said the final rule was nec- essary to reconcile and resolve a per- ceived inconsistency among portions of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, DOT-wide drug regula- tions and Drug Enforcement Agency regulations. Although the FMCSRs prohibit drivers from using Schedule I drugs, the agency said that some may have interpreted other parts of the regulations as permitting their use if recommended by a licensed medical practitioner. Currently, federal law only allows for their use in research, chemical analysis or manufacture of other drugs, and in certain circumstances, a medical review officer can verify a drug test negative when he or she has information that a driver is using a drug under a physi- cian's prescription. However, under DOT-wide rules, no medical review officer may verify a drug test negative for a Schedule I drug, even if he or she has information that a driver is using the Schedule I drug in accordance with a physician's recommendation. Interpreting FMCSA's regulations to permit drivers to use Schedule I drugs puts the FMCSRs in direct conflict with DOT's comprehensive drug testing