Posts Tagged ‘motor’

Scarcity of Drivers Expected to Worsen with CSA 2010

Friday, October 1st, 2010

If you think that the shortage of truck drivers is bad now, brace yourself because it’s about to get worse.

Once again, The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s initiative to take unsafe drivers off the road is at play, this time with the Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA) 2010 going into effect today.

According to NorthJersey.com, the CSA 2010 will keep track of everything from accidents to the simplest inspection violations on a particular driver.

After receiving a driver/applicant’s permission, an employer can then go online and screen the driver’s record of the past three (inspection violations) to five (accidents) years, the site notes.

The CSA 2010 presents both positive and negative reactions.  First of all, screening drivers before employment would help reduce the amount of unsafe drivers on the road, which in return, help lowers the number of accidents, just like Road Scholar Transport’s daily inspections and responsible drivers help reduce crashes everyday.

On the other side, carriers believe that it is hard finding drivers the way it is and that the CSA 2010 is going to make that scarcity worse.   Those drivers that are looking for work are fearing that they will have a hard obtaining employment due to past occurrences.

If you’re a safe driver looking for a career, apply today at www.roadscholar.com/employment.html.

Road Scholar Transport

Hazmat Drivers Pull Closer to Texting Ban

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) may have the ability to prohibit interstate carriers from texting while driving, but all that changes when it comes to those truckers carrying hazardous materials (http://www.ttnews.com/articles/basetemplate.aspx?storyid=25218&utm_source=express&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter).

According to Transport Topics, regulations of hazmat carriers is a duty left to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, and they intend to enforce their authority, creating a law which makes it illegal for hazmat carriers to text while driving.

Thetrucker.com notes that safety advocates are hoping that new cell phone laws will be as effective as previous “Click it or ticket” and “Don’t drink and drive” initiatives.

But will the proposed law be as successful as advocates are hoping?  Chances are favorable.

According to the site, “1,600 U.S. companies and organizations have” already “adopted policies related to distracted driving, covering about 10.5 million workers” and “550 more stated that they will follow this lead within the next year (http://www.thetrucker.com/News/Stories/2010/9/21/Proposalbanstextingbyhazmatdrivers.aspx).

There is a great possibility that this initiative will clearly be effective if passed.  Edgar, Snyder, & Associates states that in 2008, more than 800,000 people in the United States used a cell phone at any given moment while driving, which coincides with almost 6,000 people dying that year from a distracted driver (http://www.edgarsnyder.com/car-accident/cell/statistics.html).  Imagine what these numbers are like today when a person can’t go anywhere without their phone attached to them.

Trucking companies need to always operate with the utmost in safety, the way that Road Scholar Transport does.

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