Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/685770
Victories for Trucking Looking back at 2015, ATA secured important victories for trucking. Many of these victories were contained in the FAST Act – the first long-term highway bill in a decade. This bill spends $305 billion over five years, and for the first time, a dedicated sum of that for freight projects. While the bill doesn't do enough for funding – including not finding a long-term solution to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent – it did include a number of policy items designed to improve the safety and efficiency of trucking. The FAST Act reforms CSA – Compliance, Safety, Accountability – the federal government's safety monitoring system, by requiring a review of the underlying data and algorithms that produce the scores, and preventing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from posting those scores publicly until the system is improved. The bill also requires the federal government to set standards for using hair samples for mandated drug testing, sets the stage for graduated licensing with a veteran-centric pilot program for younger commercial drivers, makes it easier for veterans to get a civilian commercial driver's license (CDL) in the first place, clamps down on tolling of Interstate highways, calls for a study of raising minimum insurance limits for carriers and, in general, does a great deal to aid the trucking industry. Safety & Efficiency The ATA also saw a number of regulatory successes in 2015 – victories that will help improve the safety and efficiency of trucking. First and foremost, after years of ATA support, FMCSA issued a final rule requiring an electronic logging device (ELD) to monitor drivers' hours-of- service beginning in 2017. ELDs are shown to improve compliance with the hours-of-service rules, which have contributed to the safety gains our industry has enjoyed over the past decade. We look forward to full implementation of the rule, along with a rule to prevent ELDs and other means from being used to harass drivers into skirting federal regulations. We also saw a final rule requiring electronic stability control for new trucks, a rule ATA supports and believes will reduce crashes and improve safety. Finally, an important success ATA secured for trucking was based on our industry's commitment to safety. After setting a three-year low in positive random drug test results, at ATA's urging, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) reduced the industry's threshold for random screenings from 50% to 25%. This is a recognition of trucking's commitment to safety as well as an enormous efficiency benefit to the industry. Moving For ward The successes over the past year are nice, and important, but not enough for ATA to rest on. This year, we're looking forward for more items that continue to bolster the safety and efficiency of trucking. Of paramount importance are two issues: retaining the hours-of-service restart, and getting Congress to clarify its intent regarding the primacy palletcentral.com PalletCentral • May-June 2016 33 Looking back at 2015, ATA secured impor tant victories for trucking. Many of these victories were contained in the FAST Act – the first long-term highway bill in a decade. This bill spends $305 billion over five years, and for the first time, a dedicated sum of that for freight projects.