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05
Nov
Deaths in truck accidents up in 2011, but drop 25% since 2001
Data released this month by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration shows that trucks were involved in 3,608 accidents that involved fatalities in 2011.
That number is up 3 percent from 2010, but is down 12 percent from 2008. It is also down 25 percent from 2001.
Moreover, in the same 10-year span, the number of accidents involving trucks that led to injuries was down 30 percent, and the number of crashes involving trucks that led to property damage was down 34 percent.
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15
Oct
Are Truckers About to Get Rich?
As problems go, the U.S. trucking industry is facing a good one. Thanks to a gushing oil industry and a homebuilding renaissance, everyone needs trucks. The industry, however, is running short on supply—specifically drivers.
Trucking outfits are bristling under new federal rules that drastically constrain how long drivers can stay on the road. Since July 1, truckers have been limited to about 70 hours of driving per week, down from 82 hours. And new rest requirements limit how much they can drive in the small hours of the morning, when roads are relatively empty. (more…)
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09
Oct
Five trucking grievances part of planned protest
Organizers listed five trucking-related issues as driving the Ride for the Constitution demonstration that is planned to start Friday in and around Washington, D.C., and across the nation with individual shutdowns, other convoys and a called-for buy-nothing solidarity protest.
The five demands emerged from a conference call the evening of October 2 hosted by Pennsylvania-based company driver and former owner-operator J.B. Schaffner, also proprietor of TheAmericanDriver.com. Call participants represented varied segments, including an intermodal port hauler, a dispatcher of owner-operators and a former Midwest-based bull hauler. Schaffner had consulted offline with representatives of a California-based group as well, he said.
As previously reported, the first part of the demonstration is planned to have bobtail drivers and others ride into the heart of D.C. attendant to delivering the trucking-related demands as well as the “demands of the American people,” in the words of Ride for the Constitution promoter Zeeda Andrews, a separate list of five alleged constitutional violations. As of Monday, October 7, the then-organizer of the bobtail convoy into D.C., driver Earl Conlon, had noted “evidence” would be delivered to law enforcement authorities intended to result in
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the arrest of certain politicians “for violating their oaths of office” to uphold the constitution. Since that report, as well as this U.S. News and World Report articlefeaturing a wide-ranging interview with Conlon, promoters have attempted to distance themselves from the driver. (more…) -
02
Jul
House Removes Funding For Onboard Recorder Mandate
Congress on June 29 passed a highway spending bill that contains a mandate requiring electronic onboard recorders on commercial vehicles.
However, also Friday the U.S. House passed an amendment to transportation spending legislation, separate from the highway bill, that blocks funding for the Department of Transportation to develop or implement rules requiring EOBRs. The mandate apparently still exists and could be funded later.
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13
Jan
Auto Industry Goes On U.S. Hiring Binge
German automakers are going on a U.S. hiring binge this year.
Daimler Trucks North America, the U.S. truck division of Mercedes-Benz, said it will hire 1,100 workers this year as it adds a second shift and ramps up production at its Freightliner truck factory in Cleveland, N.C. BMW said it will hire 300 workers this year at the Spartanburg, S.C., factory where it builds sport utility vehicles and invest $900 million in the plant by 2014.
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(more…)