ICSA was privileged to attend CVSA’s 2024 Conference in Montana. Many of the things that we learned are in this article.
ICSA has been a member of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) since we were chartered so that we can represent the interests of our small carrier members and bring back information about truck enforcement and regulatory trends that might be valuable to you. We were privileged to attend CVSA’s 2024 Conference in Montana and among the things that we learned are:
Vinn White, Deputy Administrator of the FMCSA, reiterated the federal government’s position that “No loss of life is acceptable” and the efforts to achieve the goal of zero fatalities. While the government has statistics on deaths and injuries on the highway, no statistic can measure the number of lives saved by safe operations. In order to achieve this goal, the federal government priorities include:
We also learned that the DataQ process is under review from the bottom up. If the plan goes into effect, there will be no more distinction between factual disputes and regulatory interpretation. Each state will have an implementation plan approved by the federal government, but the federal government will not be involved in the states’ DataQ review processes. In addition, the officer reviewing a DataQ cannot be the inspector or the inspector’s supervisor.
CVSA also supports allowing carriers to use drug testing other than urine tests and adding such testing records to the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse. ICSA, of course, supports hair drug testing and requires its members to perform hair testing on all drivers.
CVSA also recommends that all carriers adopt the North American Fatigue Management Program. Please review ICSA’s Model Safety Plan for fatigue management strategies.
In order to assist in combatting human trafficking, CVSA is proposing that the FMCSA require that a commercial driver have a letter authorizing any non-employee passengers.
We look forward to passing along any feedback that our members may have on any of the above. Please send any comments you may have to contact@safecarriers.org.
Commercial enforcement personnel in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. conducted 48,761 inspections during this year’s International Roadcheck, which took place May 14-16. The good news is that 77% of commercial trucks and 95.2% of commercial drivers had no out-of-service violations.
A new American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) study documents what many of us in trucking already know: that truck drivers unreasonably detained for hours at customer facilities take a hit on their productivity and safety. ATRI has quantified the direct costs for fleets, truck drivers and supply chains in general.
Temperatures aside, weather experts already are forecasting some nasty winter weather in some parts of the country. Driving in wintry weather is tricky for even the most experienced driver. Now is the time to brush up on winter driving techniques.