An Update on Safety & Compliance in the Trucking Industry
Posted on Tue, May 31, 2011 @ 08:15 AM
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released several proposed regulations late in 2010 and earlier this year. They have added additional material to the proposed Hours of Service regulations docket and extended the comment period. Congress has weighed in with its own version of a mandatory Electronic On-board Recorder (EOBR) regulation. The CSA (no longer CSA 2010) implementation is well underway and begrudgingly becoming the new normal for carriers and drivers.
Memorial Day weekend signals the unofficial start of the summer driving season and the peak construction period, and commercial enforcement officers across the US, Canada and Mexico are gearing up for Road Check 2011, which begins June 7th.
Fuel prices are through the roof. Remind me again why we love trucking?
We’ve enjoyed some of the safest years since large truck crash and injury/fatality records have been kept lately. Yet we can do more. We can do better.
As an industry we need to resolve to rededicate ourselves to providing our drivers and the people with whom we share the roads the safest possible environment. We need to ensure our drivers aren’t speeding, or following too closely, or driving aggressively in order to get a load off and get another one.
We need to make certain our drivers are doing thorough pre-trip inspections everyday in order to ensure safe equipment that does not endanger them or the public.
CSA will, in time, do what it was designed to do and identify those drivers and carriers who do not embrace the new normal, the new realities of trucking. Let’s not wait for CSA interventions.
Trucking safety and compliance really boils down to one thing… lives. Safety is personal. Safety is ensuring our drivers and the public with whom we share the roads get home to their families at the end of the day.
Safety is about making good decisions. Decisions to control ones speed, to not tailgate, to shut down when fatigued. Good decisions reduce the likelihood of injuries and loss of life.
Safety is acknowledging that no load, no customer, no amount of money can justify a single injury or death.
Do we really need CSA, FMCSA regulations and state laws to achieve that goal?
By Kevin Mullen - ADS Director, Safety