public safety

Many Concerns Still Loom Over Driver Safety, FMCSA Says

May 28, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

“We’re looking at the latest crash trends. They concern us,” said FMCSA Office of Research and Registration associate administrator, Tom Keane, at the recent Analysis, Research, and Technology Forum. “So, we’re taking a wholesale look at our programs, reassessing where we might be able to do some things differently. We’re talking with our state partners to figure out what the best practices are, and where we might be able to go from here moving forward.”

This discussion arises as many FMCSA officials presenting findings regarding recent statistical and research-related updates, including those surrounding heavy truck-related crash fatalities and injuries, which have seen a steady increase over the last few years. One particular worry is the increase specifically in regards to truck-involved pedestrian deaths, according to FMCSA’ analysis division chief, Bill Bannister.

Other areas of major safety concern in fatal crashes, according to FMCSA officials, include work zone accidents, distracted driving, failure to use a seat belt, and speeding.

Bannister added that other risky behaviors often involved in dangerous crashes are cell phone use and drug- and alcohol-impaired driving.

“However, we should note that a little more than two-thirds of truck fatal crashes have no driver-related factors cited in the crash,” Bannister noted. Furthermore, he explained that although we do indeed see an uptick in fatal truck crashes, the overall number of bus and truck crashes leading to fatalities is well below the number of these crashes that were reported in the year 2000.

It is important to note, though, that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s methods around collecting data through its Fatality and Analysis Reporting system underwent changes in 2016–the year pickup trucks weighing in at an excess of 10,000 pounds were first counted as being ‘large trucks,’ thus changing considerations regarding comparisons of crash numbers in recent years and those prior to 2016.

“Starting in 2016, NHTSA improved its methodology in assessing the number of trucks, adding pickup trucks to the mix that would have previously counted as small trucks,” Bannister explained.

Pertaining to on-site focused and on-site comprehensive carrier investigations, FMCSA’s acting associate administrator for its Office of Enforcement, Joe DeLorenzo, explained that 2020’s investigation numbers show the ways in which the agency should change its approach to compliance enforcement.

“I think that’s kind of a good story,” he said. “I also think it starts to make us think about lessons learned and what our posture may be in terms of enforcement going into the future, and using maybe more of a blended approach which we were heading in [the direction of], anyway.”

Last year, FMCSA conducted a total of 5,052 off-site carrier investigations, 3,926 on-site focused carrier investigations, and 2,903 on-site comprehensive investigations.

“What this shows is that it does seem that we were able to do as many, or more, investigations remotely during the COVID-19 national health emergency–or any other situation–but also continue to identify non-compliance in those carriers that are presenting us with high risk,” DeLorenzo continued. “It really [made us feel] good about how that worked and how quickly the agency was able to transition.”

One surprise in terms of what was found during these inspections was that the number of hours-of-service violations–besides violations related to 30-minute mandatory break times–saw little to no decline since the HOS regulation change was officially put into effect, boosting break and driving time flexibility for truckers.

“Generally, I had hoped to see 14-hour violations, and maybe 11-hour violations, starting to go down,” DeLorenzo said. “We haven’t quite seen that yet.”

Another recent regulation change was that of electronic logging device mandates, and in December 2020, 92.4 percent of ELD data transfers during inspections went smoothly, up from the average success rate of ELD data transfers of 88.6 percent in 2017.

“This is a little bit of an overlooked part of the ELD rule, but it’s particularly important to me, because what I am hoping to see here as time goes on [is that] we are able to increase the data transfers,” said DeLorenzo, “[so] we should be able to see efficiency in the inspection process.”

Still, it is indeed surprising that even with the recent ELD and hours-of-service regulation changes going into effect last year, the overall number of violations found during these routine roadside inspections saw very few changes–or improvements.

“It doesn’t seem that [in] 2020, even with the pandemic–albeit at lower levels–violation rates really changed in any way, [nor did] types of violations from years past,” DeLorenzo said.

Safety Advocates Join ATA in Pushing for Speed Limiter Rule

May 24, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Speed limiter support is a main focus in the recent letter sent to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg from American Trucking Associations and Road Safe America, a group of safety advocates.

In the letter, which outlined the groups’ push for Congressional and Department of Transportation policymakers to put in place new speed limiter guidelines, explained that the speed limiter rule originally written into a 2016 rulemaking proposal is due for some major updates. This idea is inspired mostly by the current plethora of automated driver-assist safety technology that has seen huge advancements in the last few years.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration created that 2016 proposal, which requested that all trucks, buses, and multipurpose vehicles with maximum vehicle weight ratings of at least 26,000 pounds have speed-limiting devices implemented onboard. With these heavy-weighing vehicles at hand, the proposal offered that maximum top speeds should be between 60 and 68 miles per hour.

Still, though, the proposal failed to mention the ATA-supported anti-tampering requirements for said speed limiters, as NPRM has had many concerns regarding these regulations–even though ATA was a supporter early-on in the speed-limiter conversation.

“When the Department of Transportation initially published the 2016 notice of proposed rulemaking, ATA and many other carriers shared several concerns about the efficacy of a one-size-fits-all solution applied to a sector as complex and nuanced as trucking,” wrote Steve Owings, president of Road Safe America, and Chris Spear, President of ATA, in their letter to Buttigieg in March. “Foremost among them were the unintended and potentially dangerous consequences of limiting commercial drivers to one universal speed limit despite the varying limits set for passenger vehicles on interstate and secondary roads. Another question was how such a rule would adapt to the rapid evolution taking place in vehicle safety technology.”

These kinds of technological changes in the trucking world have allowed more and more fleets to easily utilize high-quality, highly-efficient automated safety tech, which has made ATA begin to “support new and safer approaches to speed management,” according to the letter. Therefore, all methods of speed limiting should take into account any current “21st century solution” that would be able “to ensure maximum adaptability” for a motor carrier–especially as the adoption of integrated safety technology among fleets is happening more quickly than ever before.

ATA has been working to secure a speed limiter rule since 2006, when it first urged FMCSA to implement a new regulation–a proposal which was initially supported by the agency. However, many questions quickly arose in regards to the lack of helpful data and a “flawed” method to limiting overall speeds.

“The world has changed so much since 2006,” said Bill Sullivan, executive vice president of ATA. “In 2016, 2018, [and] 2020, technology [had] become such a huge part of how motor carriers manage safety for their trucks.”

This isn’t the first proposal for updated speed limiter regulations in recent years, either–in December 2019, many safety advocacy groups, including Road Safe America, heavily supported the Cullum Owings Large Truck Safe Operating Speed Act. This bill, proposed in the Senate, was named for Steve Owings’ son, who died when a cruise-control-operating tractor-trailer struck his car in 2002.

This 2019 legislation “promoted incentives to drive adoption and use of newer technologies” while allowing the Department of Transportation to be able to ”continually review and update technology requirements to guard against obsolescence,” the letter explained.

“We’re continuing to figure out exactly what our strategy is going to be, along with others who are supportive of this,” said Owings of the 2021 proposal. “We’ve got a pretty big coalition. We’re going to continue to push for this common-sense change both in the regulatory arena and the legislative [arena].”

Although speed limiters are not a new tool, there are now many more possibilities for their usage, as they can work in tandem with automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, and other automated safety tech to boost a fleet’s safety capabilities.

“Speed is a component of safety, but now it’s only one tool in a suite of technologies that we have,” Sullivan noted. “Speed limiting is a fundamental component of safety management. ATA’s policies support speed limiting, and we need to make sure that it’s done in a way that accommodates the changes in equipment and technology.”

Lasting Changes May be a Result of Contactless Delivery Methods Brought About by Pandemic

May 24, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

The pandemic has brought with it many changes across the trucking industry, from shut-down rest areas and shipping ports to changes in road safety and manufacturing capabilities–but one positive change has clearly been the speed and efficiency of contactless deliveries.

In early 2020, The Consumer Brands Association collaborated with carriers, truck manufacturers, and retailers to outline contactless delivery method standards and test their usability.

“The task forces put emphasis on documenting the underlying use cases, understanding current processes, talking about what the technology would enable going forward, and then laying out the standards and publishing that,” explained the vice president of supply chain at the Consumer Brands Association, Tom Madrecki. “This is where we think that contactless delivery is headed.”

The task force has worked diligently to put in place various pilot programs that allowed it to easily test specific contactless procedures, Madrecki said. Companies have also been able to implement many short-term contactless methods including social distancing and communicating to dockworkers from the cab. However, aspects like paperless technology may be key to a lasting contactless system.

“The open question is, ‘How do you scale new technology?’” Madrecki added. “How do you accelerate carrier adoption? How do you get the facilities on board? How do you ensure that if people have different technology solutions…they’re quickly adopting those, and…they’re all sort of similar?”

Still, though, contactless options have seen massive shifts even in the short amount of time since the pandemic began.

“I think, at the start of the pandemic, contactless pickup and delivery was really for the sake of social distancing and keeping drivers physically distant from warehouse employees, shipping clerks, and guards,” said Vector Logistics co-founder, Will Chu. Vector is a provider of logistics software to fleets. “There’s a lot of traffic, a lot of people moving in and out, and you think about distribution facilities and the number of people coming in–[they are] definitely hot spots for potential outbreaks.”

In particular, Chu said, paperless systems save companies a lot of time by reducing the travel time from the staging area to check-in and by diminishing lines that would grow at the entrance of facilities. This also allowed companies to gain more overall insight into how time can be much more easily managed.

“We’ve been able to reduce dwell times from 30% to 50%,” explained Chu. “We’re replacing a process that really involved a driver speaking to multiple people, getting in and out of their cab multiple times to get paperwork, to sign paperwork. They’re removing into a process where everything can be done from the comfort of their own cab, over a mobile app.”

These time-saving contactless procedures will likely be here for the long term, Chu added.

“The conversation has shifted from safety and social distancing to efficiency and visibility,” he said. “That has been the larger driver of process and business process change. You’re moving from a system where it was just a physical piece of paper to now a digital system.”

Although these changes have been a long time coming, it seems COVID-19 has forced them to finally come into play at warp-speed. Now, companies like XPO Logistics and Ryder System Inc. have boosted their contactless delivery methods by incorporating contactless customer interaction through procedures like synchronized e-signature capture.

“Contactless and electronic supply chains have been a growing necessity in the industry for many years, and the pandemic has accelerated the need to innovate and adapt quickly,” noted Coyote Logistics chief network solutions officer, Nick Shroeger. Coyote has been working with the CBA’s task force. “While many of the recent advancements in contactless technology have been rooted in creating safer operations and working conditions for members of the supply chain, there are additional benefits to these solutions.”

Those solutions include overall cost savings brought about by automating data storage and paperwork, decreasing dwell times, and allowing for the full reconciliation of deliveries, Shroeger explained. The improved efficiency from these changes is showing that they are likely to become a permanent part of the trucking world.

“There’s a lot of success, not only around keeping workers safe,” said Madrecki, “which is the original premise, of course, and [in] trying to minimize interaction, but there [are] actually a lot of documented cases of enhanced efficiency when it comes to the speed that a driver can get in and get out.”

Bill for Safer Street Design Introduced by Policymakers

May 15, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Transportation lawmakers have introduced the Complete Streets Act, a proposal aiming to implement a country-wide program with boosted features for safer overall street design.

“Year after year of increasing pedestrian and bicyclist deaths demand that we take bold action to ensure the safety of all road users,” said Senator and Commerce Committee member, Ed Markey, in a recent tweet. “That’s why [Representative Steve Cohen] and I are reintroducing our Complete Streets Act.”

The program would work to bring about safer road features in areas like intersections and specific corridors to keep drivers and pedestrians as safe as possible. State agencies would be required to allocate some of their funding to “complete streets projects,” the majority of which would likely take place in more urban areas where enhanced safety is of particularly high priority.

These boosted safety efforts would be seen along bike lanes, crosswalks, bus stops, and sidewalks in order to improve vehicle access and convenience in these areas as well as make way for safer accommodation for everyone who shares the road–whether on a bike, in a car, or on foot.

According to Markey, these “increasing fatalities demand that we make significant investments to ensure safety for all users of the road. At the same time, these investments present an enormous opportunity to lead the world into a new era of more accessible and climate-friendly transportation.”

Markey also added that prioritizing these values will lead to enhanced community wellbeing in a variety of ways.

“By fostering ‘complete’ streets, we will foster complete communities–ones with less reliance on gas-guzzling cars, greater safety, and more equity in everyone’s ability to access work, school, and other critical services.”

The legislation, co-sponsored in the Senate and the House by Markey and Representative Cohen, was referred to committees of jurisdiction and also sponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal and Brian Schatz, along with Representatives Adriano Espaillat and Ruben Gallego. It would mandate that 5% of federal highway funds be dedicated specifically to “complete streets” projects and would require “complete streets” policy adoption that would focus heavily on these kinds of projects.

Metropolitan Planning Organizations, along with state agencies, would need to determine whether or not specific policies meet the minimum requirements, and agencies would also need to find ways of implementing user-accommodating and safety-boosting project design regulations.

“The United States is facing a national safety crisis,” explained Cohen. “In recent years, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of pedestrians killed by vehicles. We need streets that can accommodate all means of transportation, from foot traffic and strollers to bicycles, cars, light trucks, and 18-wheelers.”

The measure is also being backed by various stakeholders, especially by safety advocates across all areas of the transportation industry.

In support of Markey’s proposal, executive director of the League of American Cyclists, Bill Nesper, said that all Americans, “whether they bike, walk, drive, or take transit, should be able to use our roads safely.” He added: “The League of American Bicyclists applauds Senator Markey and Representative Cohen for reintroducing the Complete Streets Act, and we are proud to support the bill, because we believe that when more people choose to ride bikes, communities are stronger and our nation is healthier.”

The overall concept and motivation behind “complete street” strategies are meant to benefit everyone, in every corner of the country, the U.S. Department of Transportation assured.

“The concept of ‘complete streets’ encompasses many approaches to planning, designing, and operating roadways and rights of way with all users in mind to make the transportation network safer and more efficient,” the department explained. “Complete Street’ policies are set at the state, regional, and local levels and are frequently supported by roadway design guidelines.”

This bill is also a sign that the country’s mindset regarding road safety is finally changing, noted Transportation for America policy director, Scott Goldstein.

“The Complete Streets Act is huge step toward reversing these perverse incentives by reallocating existing funding and empowering cities and towns to design streets that keep everybody safe.” he said. “We are pleased to support this important legislation again this year.”

Safety Policymakers Aim to Pass Highway Bill for Safer Mobility Grid

May 14, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Highway safety policies are coming to the forefront as Congress has assured that it will be prioritizing comprehensive highway legislation throughout 2021.

The latest research regarding roadway fatalities is concerning, according to Peter DeFazio, House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman. DeFazio has made clear his commitment to the upgrading of overall passenger corridor and freight safety and has promised to pursue programs working to find these methods of improvement.

The reason–in 2019, the United States saw 36,096 fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s data. Although this number has indeed been on the decline, it hasn’t been declining nearly enough, DeFazio explained.

“Some may point to the fact that the rate of traffic fatalities per vehicle miles traveled has decreased during our lifetime and say we’ve done our job,” DeFazio said. “I say that’s unacceptable. To put it in context for you: In 1994, we lost 40,716 lives on our roadways; in 2019, we lost 36,096. I’d say we have a lot more work to do.”

The most frustrating fact, DeFazio noted, is that the majority of deaths occurring in these accidents should be perfectly avoidable.

“We still lose an average of 100 lives per day due to motor vehicle crashes,” he continued. “What’s worse, the majority of these crashes are entirely preventable. Year after year, the leading cause of car crashes is human behavior: excessive speed, drunk driving, and distraction.”

In order to boost road safety in as widespread a way as possible, many additional tools will need to come into play, added Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who currently serves on the Highways and Transit Subcommittee as its chairwoman.

“Targeting resources is necessary to ensure that we actually move the needle on traffic safety,” she explained.

Pete Buttigieg, the new U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary, has made it clear that the Biden administration will be focusing heavily on improving the safety of America’s roadways. Buttigieg has explained his intention to bring enhanced safety to both transportation workers and travelers alike.

“We must ensure all of our transportation systems–from aviation to public transit, to our railways, roads, ports, waterways, and pipelines–are managed sagely during this critical period, as we work to defeat the virus,” said Buttigieg in a recent statement to senators.

Additionally, a multi-year highway policy measure is expected to be discussed by the transportation panel during the first half of 2021. All methods of transit and the strategies pertaining to increasing their safety are likely to be a main focus for policymakers, who have also expressed their intention to bring about a “complete street” proposal, which would consist of enhancement strategies regarding pedestrian and cyclist safety. Leaders within Congress have also indicated their expectation for the approval of a highway law update to be implemented before the current law expires later in the year.

American Trucking Associations has expressed its support for safety-boosting regulations and updates, especially those that would directly help the trucking industry as a whole through training and resource investments–particularly regarding equipment and technology. A prioritization ATA hopes to see among lawmakers would be that of funding distributed to programs dedicated to helping alleviate the plethora of challenges the trucking industry has seen regarding parking ease and availability. When parking is scarce, truckers can often end up leaving their vehicles in risky areas or decide to continue driving, even when they may be overtired, ATA explained.

“ATA looks forward to working with the committee to develop a long-term, well-funded surface transportation reauthorization bill that addresses highway safety, maintenance, and mobility needs,” said the agency.

Additionally, stakeholders are in agreement with the desire for a heavy focus on roadway safety–including the National Safety Council, which mentioned the Road to Zero Coalition’s efforts to collaborate with other industry members and safety advocates to urge both Buttigieg and President Biden to push forward new policies that would aim to reach zero roadway fatalities–complete elimination–by 2050.

“We can no longer stand by while 100 people die every day on our roadways,” said CEO and president of the National Safety Council, Lorraine Martin, in a message to lawmakers.

Newest Threat to Trucking Industry–Fake Movers

May 13, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Fraudulent movers have become a well-known adversary throughout the industry of household goods moving, with employees in the business referring to these criminals as “rogue operators.” These fake movers target customers by creating fraudulent moving websites touting inexplicably low overall moving rates.

After customers fall prey to these cheaper-than-normal costs, the “moving van” will tell them that they will be holding their belongings hostage until the customers pay a high fee–often as high as thousands of dollars more than they ever agreed to.

“Rogue operators are the largest threat to the legitimate household goods industry and one of our top issues that we are working on with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Capitol Hill,” explained the director of American Trucking Associations’ Moving and Storage Conference, Katie McMichael.

The biggest strategy of these thieves is to find vulnerable people who are looking to save a quick buck in their moving expenses, which makes them easy targets for these kinds of website scams. “Through deceptive practices, these illegal entities force customers into positions and extort large sums of money to be reunited with their belongings,” she said. “The moving community strongly condemns these bad actors and we are working to address this growing problem.”

Additionally, many of these victims may not be aware of the federal regulations currently in place which prohibit any carrier from raising the costs that were already agreed upon in advance by both the carrier and the customer. Unless both parties are willing to negotiate on a new price for moving costs, the previously agreed-upon charge, which would have been decided and put into writing before any work began, would be legally binding.

“The reason this has come to the forefront in recent years is because consumers use the internet for anything now,” said McMichael.

Regardless of legalities, these scams take place quite often–and on a massive scale. A Florida-based fraudulent operation has been one of the biggest of these scams to take place in recent years, in which the fake movers stole around $3.5 million total from 1,800 customers between the years of 2013 and 2018. According to a report made by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General, the rogue operators would charge customers for moving household goods over a larger distance of cubic feet than they actually traveled, and many items would not even be delivered at all.

The scam’s two leaders, Andrey Shuklin and Seth Nezat have pleaded guilty for conspiring within a “racketeering enterprise” that aimed to defraud as many American individuals as it could, and more than a dozen other individuals who helped in these crimes have also pleaded guilty or been charged.

A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Ohio concluded in its indictment that these scammers had created at least 10 different fake moving companies over the last five years, and many individuals who participated in these crimes did so under various fake names.

Some of those who pleaded guilty have, according to the indictment,
“coordinated and directed lower-level employees, members, and [associates] of the affiliated companies,” and many also were said to have threatened to “injure another person who interfered with the moving enterprises’s purposes.”

Sometimes, these kinds of fake companies will use company names associated with legitimate moving companies, causing customers to end up accusing the real businesses of these crimes when they’ll likely have no knowledge of what has transpired.

“To the legitimate moving industry, the impact is when people have a bad move [and] they sometimes will talk to news outlets,” said McMichael. “It just puts a stain on the moving industry overall because people don’t know how to separate a rogue operator from a legitimate operator.”

Typically, though, customers will just opt to pay the unjust additional charges to avoid any issues, and the scam isn’t ever reported to any authorities. Of course, this is what scammers hope for, but they’ve also become diligent about circumventing the consequences of suspicion.

According to McMichael, these most recent scammers worked throughout the states of Florida, New York, and New Jersey, and would usually shut down their websites immediately as soon as any knowledge of their criminal activity was suspected.

“This cycle continues,” she said. “You can see how long they will do this–and get away with it–because it’s hard to catch them. There needs to be a lot of cooperation between federal, state, and local authorities [to solve this issue].”