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A group of shippers, brokers and small motor carriers told a federal court that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new carrier safety ratings are “confusing, ever-changing, mercurial and capricious in their effects on carriers.”

Sales of Class 8 used trucks and orders for new trailers fell in November from the previous month, according to ACT Research.

While the attention of the nation was focused for much of the year on the costly and protracted presidential election campaign, trucking probably will look back on 2012 as a turning point for the adoption of natural gas as a viable alternative fuel for heavy-duty fleets.

Federal regulators weathered ongoing criticism of the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program during the year, as industry representatives, experts and researchers pushed for changes to it.

Steve Owings, president of Road Safe America, has been named chairman of the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee, which advises federal officials on truck and bus safety issues.

Truck-involved highway fatalities inched up 1.9% to 3,757 in 2011 from 3,686 the year before, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported last week.

Cameras set up to catch stoplight violators in New Jersey have helped cut in half the number of accidents, a new report shows.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Monday that, effective immediately, it has activated previously announced changes to its Safety Measurement System ratings program, including adoption of its controversial proposal to step up hazardous materials compliance and elimination of a perceived enforcement bias against flatbed carriers.

With the dust settling from last month’s elections — and the voters returning to Washington a still-divided government — it is going to be incumbent upon our leaders to find areas of broad agreement to build upon if we are going to move forward as a nation.