Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/993011
12 commercial carrier journal | june 2018 JOURNAL NEWS INBRIEF 6/18 • The American Transportation Research Institute is soliciting carriers for input on its annual "Operational Costs of Trucking" report, seeking information on driver pay, fuel costs, insurance premiums and lease or purchase payments. Carriers also are asked to provide full-year 2017 cost-per-mile data. The deadline to submit infor- mation is June 22; go to http://atri- online.org/2018/05/15/operational- costs-of-trucking-survey-2018. The results of the study will be available later this year. • Operation Safe Driver Week, an annual enforcement spree organized by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, is set for July 15-21. Enforcers will focus on traffic violations, seatbelt enforce- ment, driver roadside inspections and driver regulatory compliance. Driving behaviors that will be tar- geted include speeding, distracted driving, texting, failure to use a seatbelt, following too closely, improper lane change and failure to obey traffic control devices. • The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association's board of directors unanimously voted to approve Todd Spencer as the association's new president for a five-year term. Spencer, who had served as OOIDA's executive vice president since 1992, succeeds longtime pres- ident Jim Johnston, who died in March after a yearlong battle with lung cancer. Spencer had served as acting president and CEO pending the board's formal vote. He was elected to OOIDA's board in 1978. • The Trucking Alliance, a coalition of some of the country's largest trucking companies, again pressed Congress to require applicants for truck driving jobs to be screened for drug use via hair sample testing rather than the current urine test requirement. The group says more stringent requirements are needed in light of the increasing use of addictive opioids that cannot be detected in a urine test after only a few hours, whereas hair screen- ing can detect opioid use from the prior 90 days. CARB voids compliance alternatives T he time has expired for legal appeals to save the California Air Resources Board's 2014-introduced compliance alternatives to the engine upgrades and retrofits required by its Statewide Truck and Bus Regulation. Emails attempting to clarify the status of the compliance alternatives were sent to owners of CARB-registered vehicles in late April. The email's language says truck owners out of compliance with any of the sunset- ting exemptions' stipulations at the end of the year "must replace, repower, or retrofit the vehicle(s) per the Engine Model Year Schedule of the regulation." The current regulation effectively bans 1995 and older engines, requiring an upgrade to a 2010-or-later emissions-specification engine, with 1996-2006 engines currently admissible only if retrofit with a diesel particulate filter sys- tem; such engines then require upgrades to a 2010 or later engine emissions- spec engine starting in 2020. Model year 2007-09 engines require upgrades to 2010 technology in 2023. The death of the compliance-flexibility options results from a lawsuit filed by John R. Lawson Rock and Oil of Fresno and the California Trucking Association. The plaintiffs argued the delayed compliance schedule punished fleets and owner-operators who spent the money required to comply with CARB's regulations, putting them at a competitive disadvantage. – Todd Dills Bill would fine $25,000 for non-CARB glider T he California Trucking Association and state General Assembly legislators in late April put forward a bill that would establish new civil penal- ties aimed specifically at glider kit trucks operating within the state and judged noncompliant with the California Air Resources Board's strict regulation of in-use diesel vehicles. The bill would establish a minimum $25,000 civil penalty for operating a noncompliant glider. CARB bans trucks powered by 2006 and older engines that are not retrofitted with diesel particulate filters. CTA argued the high penalty was reasonable as a deterrent to operators who would consider "implementing glider vehicles in the state" that contravene air- quality rules. "Supporters argue that the threat needs to be significant enough, or scofflaws may believe it is worth the risk to try and operate gliders." Secondly, bill supporters, including CTA and UPS, "believe the amount is justified because it is relatively equivalent to the price differential between a new truck with the state-mandated clean air components and that of a fully- operable glider vehicle." – Todd Dills CARB bans trucks powered by 2006 and older engines that are not retrofitted with diesel particulate filters. Emails attempting to clarify the status of the compliance alternatives were sent to owners of CARB-regis- tered vehicles in late April.