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WASHINGTON — Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration officials said they are planning to release at least five new proposed or final rules in 2013, including a supplemental proposed electronic logging device rule and a proposed drug and alcohol clearinghouse rule by the end of March.

Both ATA and TCA support mandating devices that simply record hours-of-service status, but they do not support requiring fleets to purchase multifunction fleet management systems, which typically cost far more.

Pressure from federal safety regulations and the latest transportation bill is pushing more carriers to make the switch from paper driver logs to electronic logging through in-cab systems, according to fleets and vendors.

Commercial drivers in Illinois are banned from using hand held cellphones while driving, as of this month, the Illinois Department of Transportation said.

North Carolina’s Quick Pass toll collection system and the multistate E-ZPass system will become compatible Thursday, when users of both transponders will be able to pay tolls in both systems, the North Carolina Turnpike Authority announced.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration wants to survey trucking to determine how it could prevent driver harassment when it issues a rule mandating electronic onboard recorders.

The Christmas tree that will sit on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol arrived in Washington last week, towed by a Mack truck.

An hours-of-service waiting time exemption for drivers of “specially constructed” oil-field operations trucks should be extended to include such other oil and gas operations trucks such as those that deliver sand and water, several motor carriers and trade association officials told federal regulators.

Let me understand you correctly: If a driver runs out of time 30 minutes from the yard and is on an electronic onboard recorder, “He either spends the night 20 miles from home or, more likely, breaks the law and comes to the yard anyway.”

I feel like I’m the only truck operator who believes the feds are trying to control every facet of my life. It’s not just that electronic onboard recorders or EOBRs or whatever you call them are an intrusive invasion into my company and our drivers’ lives.