The Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) is seeking a truck driver who was involved in an accident that killed a fellow truck driver in the Toledo area on Tuesday afternoon.

The incident occurred shortly before 2 p.m. on January 17 on I-280 in Lake Township, Ohio.

Troopers say that a semi truck traveling south on I-280 lost a set of dual tires from one of its axles.

“The dual tires went through the median and struck a northbound semi-tractor trailer combination,” OSHP said.

The tires struck the cab of the northbound tanker truck on the driver’s side.

PMTA Safety Management Council meeting will be held at the America on Wheels museum in Allentown and the topic of discussion is wheel end components.  The above tragic story highlights the importance of maintaining those rotating assemblies.  Hope to see you all there.

Sheetz is temporarily lowering the cost of diesel fuel.

The company is dropping the diesel price by 50 cents at all locations through the end of January.

Sheetz says the discount will save commercial truck drivers about $60 for every fill-up from empty to full.

According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of diesel in Pennsylvania is $5.39.

That translates into more regulation.  The focus discussed by the panel at the Transportation Research Board included a speed limiter rule, plans to ensure problem drivers are not able to move from state to state, a joint automatic emergency braking rule with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a crash causation study, driver compensation study, detention time study, rear impact guards, predatory truck leasing and the need to attract females to the industry.

Today is the Start of CVSA’s Human Trafficking Awareness Initiative in the U.S.

JANUARY 9, 2023

Today is the first day of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) five-day annual awareness and outreach effort to educate commercial motor vehicle drivers, motor carriers, law enforcement officers and the general public about the crime of human trafficking, the signs to look for and what to do if you suspect someone is being trafficked.

This week, CVSA law enforcement jurisdictions in the U.S. will track human trafficking awareness and outreach activities and events, and submit that data to the Alliance. CVSA will gather the information and report the results this summer.

In addition, in the months leading up to the awareness campaign, CVSA educated its membership and the general public on human trafficking through webinars, radio appearances and online resources. The Alliance also worked with Truckers Against Trafficking to distribute wallet cards and window decals, which are still available upon request.

CVSA selected this week for its 2023 Human Trafficking Awareness Initiative to align with U.S. National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, which is Jan. 11, and National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, which is January.

FMCSA Pre-employment Requirement Will Go Into Effect January 6, 2023

On November 4, 2022, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse published information titled “Pre-employment Investigations for Drug and Alcohol Program Violations.”  The Clearinghouse notice (re-posted below) is a reminder to certain employers regarding a change requirement that will go into effect January 6, 2023.  On that date, three years of violation data will become available in the Clearinghouse and a pre-employment Clearinghouse query will satisfy the requirement to investigate whether a prospective driver had previous drug and alcohol program violations, as required by 49 CFR 391.23(e).  This query will also satisfy the requirements of 49 CFR 40.25.

Please be aware the Clearinghouse contains only information about a driver’s drug/alcohol testing history when employed by FMCSA-regulated employers.  If an employer is considering an applicant who was employed by an employer regulated by a DOT agency other than FMCSA (such as the Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, etc.), that applicant’s information would not be reported to the Clearinghouse.  In these situations, the employer still is required to directly request drug and alcohol violation information from those DOT-regulated employers in accordance with 391.23(e)(4)(ii) and 40.25.

For any questions, please contact FMCSA’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse at [email protected]

THE DEADLINE IS COMING SOON FOR YOUR ANNUAL QUERIES.  DON'T PUT IT OFF TIL THE LAST MINUTE.

Employers must conduct an annual query on employees at least once within a 365-day period based on the date the employer conducted the last query, or another 12-month period determined by the employer, as long as the requirements of 49 CFR § 382.701(b) are met.

The annual query requirement is tracked on a rolling 12-month (365-day) basis. For example, if an employer conducts a preemployment query on a prospective employee (or an annual query on a current employee) on December 1, 2022, the employer is not required to conduct another query on that employee again until December 1, 2023.

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Companies with commercial vehicles that weigh 26,000 to 80,000 pounds and fit into FHWA classes 8 through 13 must register for the Connecticut HUT by January 1, 2023.  Mileage tax reports must be filed by the end of the following month.  American Trucking Associations is against this discriminatory tax.  No legal action has been announced.

“Modifying auto emissions controls is illegal, contributes significantly to harmful air pollution, and makes it harder to meet air quality standards,” said David Cozad, director of EPA Region 7’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division. “These illegal practices exacerbate the effects of pollution in already overburdened communities.”

As part of their settlements with EPA, all three companies agreed to demolish their inventories of defeat device components and certified that they stopped selling or installing devices that disable vehicle emission controls.