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

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.

Most have heard the outcome of MAP-21, the current highway funding law, for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which has said repeatedly that MAP-21 requires it to complete 29 new safety regulations within 27 months.

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.

The recent $21 million jury verdict against a leading beverage manufacturer whose employee struck a woman pedestrian while driving a company vehicle sent shock waves through the trucking and fleet industries regarding the potential financial consequences of distracted driving.