The 10th and final part in a series of quick peeks into the world of commercial vehicles through the lends of Commercial Carrier Journal
Retrospective: 2000 to present
Washington D.C. — trucking HQ
A few blocks from Environmental Protection Agency headquarters is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which didn’t even exist prior to 2000. Just a few months after the Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1999 created the agency, FMCSA floated its plan for revamping driver hours-of-service regulations that had not changed substantially since they were imposed more than 60 years earlier. It took three more years to finalize a rule – one that was far more to the trucking industry’s liking than the 2000 proposal.
Safety advocates weren’t so satisfied, however. What followed was a series of federal appeals court challenges that forced FMCSA to make a few more changes and to find more data to back up its choices. Today, nearly eight years after the first rule change, the process continues, and this time it could be the trucking industry heading to the U.S. courthouse on Constitution Ave.
Truckers respond to tragedies
The trucking industry was no exception. The American Trucking Associations responded by mobilizing a relatively new safety awareness program called Highway Watch into an army of drivers to be trained as the eyes and ears of law enforcement. A few million dollars later, the effort fizzled as the newly established U.S. Department of Homeland Security reallocated resources to other priorities.
In 2005, the trucking industry responded again when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. Often without any compensation at all, hundreds of trucks hauled water, food and other necessities to the region.
Fuel for thought
Among the many consequences of high volatile prices has been major spec’ing changes – aerodynamic designs and appliances, low rolling-resistance tires and auxiliary power units to reduce idling.
Visit www.CCJ100.com for an in-depth timeline detailing news and events in the trucking industry from this decade and share your company’s history.