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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has extended to May 23 the comment period on its proposed onboard electronic recorder mandate.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said a new federal rule will expand the enforcement authority of federal regulators to conduct “enhanced inspections” and investigations of packaged hazardous materials.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Transportation Security Administration have conducted several dozen overlapping fleet inspections, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report about wasteful and duplicative federal programs.

Trade organizations representing motor carriers, shippers, and retailers continued their campaign against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposed hours-of-service rule change, making last-minute appeals last week that the agency withdraw the rule and claiming it would hurt supply chain productivity and highway safety.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will require all Mexican trucks entering the United States to be equipped with electronic onboard recorders — and will pay for them — an agency spokeswoman said last week.

An impending Department of Transportation rule will expand enforcement authority of federal regulators to conduct “enhanced inspections” and investigations of packaged hazardous materials.

The California Air Resources Board’s deadline for food transporters with model-year 2003 transport refrigeration units to install retrofits is March 31, the agency said.

The federal standard for underride guards on trucks and trailers is inadequate and should be upgraded to protect the drivers of vehicles that crash into the rear of trucks, an insurance safety advocacy group said last week.

President Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon agreed Thursday to a program that will allow Mexican trucks to travel into the United States, the Associated Press reported.