TSNA: Trucking News Update

That’s right, the next installment of the Trucking Industry Update is here - powered by Truck Services of North America. Don’t hide it; we know you’re excited. In an industry filled with ever-changing regulations and policies, we know it’s a daunting task to stay up-to-date and informed. But not to fret, that’s what we’re here for. So just like always, keep reading and we’ll get to the good stuff.

Operation Safe Driver Week:

Starting on October 18 and running through the 24th is the annual Operation Safe Driver Week, sponsored by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA). During this week, officers in the United States, Mexico, and Canada will be looking for a variety of specific violations.

The five most common violations they'll be searching for are:

• Speeding
• Failure to Wear a Seat Belt
• Failure to Obey Traffic Control Devices
• Improper Lane Changes
• Following Too Closely

Last year during safe driver week, officers pulled over nearly 60,000 commercial vehicle and car drivers for “unsafe driving behaviors.” That’s right, almost 60,000 traffic stops across North America over a one week period. So if you want to be safe, drive safe, and don’t get pulled over next week!

Delayed Regulations:

There’s been a lot of long-awaited trucking mandates that were expected to be implemented before the end of the year: but many have now been postponed. Don’t get too excited though—that’s postponed, not canceled. But regardless, it looks like you’re all going to be getting just a little bit more time before you have to deal with any of these new rules.

Let’s take a look and see some of the regulations that have been delayed so far:

Speed Limiters: The official rule that would mandate speed limiters was originally expected to be issued by the end of September 2015, but now the final rule is not expected to pass until the end of 2016.

ELDs: This one isn’t going to be delayed quite as long, but the ELD rule originally expected to pass by the end of September has been pushed back until the end of October.

Entry-Level Driver Training: The new requirements for entry-level driver training may not ever be passed. Just kidding, well, kind of. The rule has already been delayed multiple times, most recently to November 15, and Congress expects that date to get pushed back even further. The reason cited for the delay is that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has had a tough time justifying it from a cost-benefit standpoint. So while this new regulation may still may be coming your way soon, there's actually a strong chance it may not be heading your way at all.

Minimum Insurance Increases: Many agencies already agreed to this rule in principle, and the FMCSA was set to issue an advanced notice of the new regulation. Instead, it appears that other regulations have moved to the top of the priority list, and this has been put on the back burner for now.

I-95 Reopens in South Carolina:

This one hit us close to home here at TSNAmerica (quite literally), and we’re excited to say that all closed sections of I-95 through South Carolina have been reopened. Earlier this week, the state DOT announced that all southbound lanes had been reopened and that bridges on the northbound lanes were still under construction. But as of now, all lanes in both directions are ready for truckin’!

Well, folks, you’re welcome; you’re now the most well-informed truckers on the road. Stay tuned for more updates so you can continue to stay ahead of your brethren in both preparedness and knowledge.

At TSNAmerica, we take pride in helping you take care of all things trucking. We know the UCR registration season has begun and those 3rd quarter IFTA reports are due soon. So if you want someone to take care of it for you, just give us a call! You can reach us at 803.386.0320, email us at support@tsnamerica.com, or send us a service request.