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Motor carriers and shippers cited for hazardous materials violations face far greater penalties following the passage of the new federal highway reauthorization law.

Motor carriers who haul relatively small quantities of hazardous materials have cited concerns that a proposed newly-created hazardous materials safety measurement category would unfairly worsen their hazmat scores.

Federal regulatory “guidance” issued in June restricting the number of oil and gas drivers allowed to extend their workdays beyond the 14-hour limit could have significant adverse economic and safety implications for the trucking industry, several truckers said in comments filed earlier this month.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ordered two affiliated Alabama trucking companies to stop operating, declaring the carriers “imminent hazards to public safety.”

Over the next five years, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration plans to significantly reduce truck-related crash fatality rates by developing new credentialing and driver safety fitness standards, expanding its regulatory reach to include shippers and other industry players and creating new programs aimed at weeding out high-risk motor carriers.

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Nearly two months after announcing an indefinite delay of a highly anticipated process to assess and assign fault on carriers’ safety records for truck-related crashes, the head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said the agency has begun to answer critical questions about the issue.

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Several dozen truck drivers, motor carriers and law enforcement officers gave federal regulators a candid array of opinions on whether a planned electronic logging device mandate would be properly used as a safety device and fleet productivity tool.

The Department of Transportation will seek assistance from state agencies in a study of the safety performance of overweight heavy trucks — those that run heavy both with permits and those that run overweight illegally.

While the notion that trucks should not stop on a railroad track seems to make a lot of sense, federal regulars have yet to finalize a proposed federal railroad grade crossing rule that they say would save lives.