ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

In trucking, safety means everything. Yet, when we talk about safety, our attention focuses on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program scores, historical accident data and compliance standards. These elements, while important, do little to improve safety in the here and now.

By now, you’re well aware of President Obama’s announcement that he will direct the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation to set the next — i.e., the post-2018 — round of medium- and heavy-truck fuel economy and emissions standards.

After much anticipation, on March 13 the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration released its proposal that interstate truck drivers be required to use electronic logging devices.

This Opinion piece appears in the March 17 print edition of Transport Topics.

At No. 21 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers, Prime Inc. is a major trucking industry player. The company has more than 5,000 drivers, most of them trained by Prime’s safety director, Don Lacy. Many, however, have had additional coaching in weight control and exercise by fellow driver Siphiwe Baleka.

The Presidential Youth Fitness Program announced by the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition during a recent function in Washington, D.C., provides a model for fitness education that includes the use of a health-related fitness assessment and educational and motivational tools that support educators and encourage students to adopt an active lifestyle.

The Sept. 9 issue of Transport Topics included a News Digest entry regarding backup warning devices.

The adoption of natural gas as a transportation fuel continues to pick up speed. It is no surprise to me: I spent more than 30 years in the waste business and was the CEO of Republic Services, which is now the nation’s second-largest waste services provider, when the industry began to consider transitioning from diesel, a fuel we had used for decades. I understand the challenges in making the decision to switch to natural gas.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration enforcement mechanism dubbed Compliance, Safety, Accountability has been the topic of much discussion and controversy since its launch in 2010.

Independent studies have confirmed that anomalies and flaws exist in the relationship between crash likelihood and a trucking company’s BASIC scores as calculated under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.