cvsa guardian 4th quarter 2010

Volume 16, Issue 2 Second Quarter 2009

GuardianVolume 17, Issue 3 Third Quarter 2009

The New Carrier SafetyMeasurement System

New Interventions Processand Warning Letters

Explained

Introducing the NewInspection Selection System

• Roadside Data: The Foundation of CSA 2010

• Alberta’s PBBT Program Provides Technological Advancements, Enhances Brake Testing

• New Mexico Implements Smart Roadside

guardian cover1b 4/9/10 6:08 AM

About the cover:

Table of ContentsInsight

President’s Message ........................................................................................................1Letter to the Editor/OP-ED ..............................................................................................2The Legislative Rundown ................................................................................................6Knowledge Matters ........................................................................................................8

Federal NewsFMCSA Administrator’s Message: “Setting the Bar High for Safety” ................................11New DataQs System User Guide to Strengthen Review Process ......................................12Employer Notification Service Program Provides Solution to

Carriers on Changes to Driver CDL Status ................................................................13FMCSA Issues Amended Guidance on Enforcement of

Federal Out-of-Service Orders at Roadside................................................................14FMCSA Examining Additional Data Retrieval Via Nlets ....................................................15Results of Brake Wear, Performance Field Operational Test

Show Increase in Brake Efficiency..............................................................................16FMCSA Hosts 5th Annual MCSAP Leadership Conference ..............................................17National Training Offers On-Site Expertise to Facilitate Delivery of Training Programs..............18NTC News Briefs ..........................................................................................................18“Commercial Skills Test Information Management System” Now Available........................19FHWA Provides Technical Guidance to Support States’ Use of

Virtual Weigh Stations to Augment Roadside Enforcement ........................................20PHMSA Announces Enhancements to the HazMat

Special Permits and Approvals Program .................................................................. 22Tire Pressure Monitoring and Maintenance Systems

Research, Test to Provide Cost and Benefit................................................................25

CVSA NewsRoadside Data: The Foundation of CSA 2010..................................................................26CVSA Releases 2010 North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria ............................28CVSA Offers Training, Insights Into HazMat Transportation Issues at

COHMED Conference ..............................................................................................29Operation Safe Driver 2010 Ramps Up to Focus on Educating

Teens & Trucks, Dangers of Distracted Driving ..........................................................29

Cover Story/FeatureHow Intelligent Transportation Systems and Technologies are

Transforming Roadside Inspections ..........................................................................30 IntelliDrive: A Quantum Leap Forward for Truck and Bus Safety........................................33

Inspector’s Corner ..................................................................................................35

Committee News ....................................................................................................36

Regional NewsSmart Roadside Program Uses Advanced Technology Systems to Improve

Efficiency, Effectiveness of Inspections Throughout New Mexico ................................39North Carolina Motor Carrier Enforcement Integrates GIS Capabilities ............................40Alberta Pilot Project Results Confirm Thermal Imaging Assists Transport Officers

in Identifying CMV Mechanical Defects, Making Roadways Safer ..............................41Alberta Implements PBBT Program, Finds Technological Advancements

Enhance Brake Testing ............................................................................................42Web-Based Intrastate Safety Audits Gives Colorado Officers More Time to

Complete Traffic Safety Activities ..............................................................................43Midwest States Plan Enforcement Blitzes ........................................................................43

Regional Rap ............................................................................................................43

Industry Spotlight ATA: Promoting a Progressive Safety Agenda that Aims to Further Reduce

Fatalities, Injuries on Nation’s Highways ....................................................................44National District Attorneys Association (National Traffic Law Center)

Adds Commercial Motor Vehicle Senior Attorney ......................................................45Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference: Help for a Challenging Issue ..................................46GHSA’s Annual Meeting to Focus on Technology ............................................................47

Executive Director’s Message ............................................................................47

RAD Inspection News ............................................................................................49

GuardianPublished by:Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance

1101 17th Street, NW, Suite 803Washington, DC 20036

Phone: (202) 775-1623Fax: (202) 775-1624www.cvsa.org

Dedicated to government and industry workingtogether to promote commercial vehicle safetyon North American highways.

HEADQUARTERS STAFF

Stephen A. KepplerInterim Executive Director

Richard D. HendersonDirector, Government Affairs

Collin B. Mooney, CAEDirector, Enforcement Programs

Francisco J. GomezDirector, Member Services

Larry D. SternDirector, Level VI Inspection Program

Iris R. LeonardProgram Manager

J. Craig DefibaughAccountant

Laura Zabriskie MartinCommunications Coordinator

For comments, suggestions or information,please email us at [email protected].

Guardian is a publication of the Commercial VehicleSafety Alliance and the Federal Motor Carrier SafetyAdministration.

Intelligent transportation systemsand technologicaladvancements helpmake roadside inspections more efficient and effective.

Second Quarter 2010 www.cvsa.org

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Guardian

From nearly every geographic locationon the continent, CVSA member juris-dictions are facing some difficult chal-lenges that in turn are forcing toughdecisions. In many cases the stark realityis that many may not have enough staffto cover all the areas they need to. Thesame can be said for our industry part-ners. To stay effective we need to belooking continuously at what is the mostefficient way of using our humanresources in monitoring the freight beingtransported on our roadways. One thingall CVSA members know for sure is thatbudgets for resources for safety andenforcement are taking a hit, so we allneed to work together to identify newways to work smarter.

With that said, I thought it would bevery timely and appropriate to have thisissue of Guardian focus on technologyand how both enforcement and industryare working together, and to have themshare their experiences with what’sworking in the field. There are manyadvanced technologies that can help usnot only make data more readily avail-able but improve data quality. Data qual-ity is the cornerstone for everything webase our actions on and improving theinformation we input into the system canonly help us be more efficient in identi-fying carriers needing our attention.

The importance of partnerships can-not be underscored enough. Not only dowe need to work with each other but weneed to be reaching out to other associa-tions, coalitions and industry partners toensure that safety stays in the forefront— since decisions that are being madetoday will affect us many years from nowthrough legislation and other fronts.

Our partners on the federal side areevaluating measures and are working

together to integrate technology tohelp us further our mission to promotecommercial motor vehicle safety andsecurity. Agencies like FMCSA,which is working to help improve waysto access data (see their story on dataretrieval through Nlets), and otheragencies such as the Federal HighwayAdministration (FHWA) that help uscapture data on carriers in areas thatmay have gone undetected in the past.FHWA is working to support states’use of virtual weigh stations to aug-ment roadside enforcement (see articleon page 20).

Looking forward into the future,combining these new technologies being

deployed both in vehicles and highwayinfrastructure can serve as a force multi-plier in aiding us as in how we gather andevaluate data and help us measure howwe are delivering programs in the field—telling us what’s working and what’s not.However, much will be driven by indus-try’s acceptance and buy in to adding thistechnology. A good case in point is elec-tronic on-board recorders (EOBRs).With EOBRs we can see electronic datato help facilitate compliance and enforce-ment; assist enforcement in deployingand establishing interdiction strategies;enable CSA 2010 — a data hungry sys-tem that needs more inputs to be mosteffective — helping to enable everythingfrom warning letters to robust compli-ance reviews, allowing us to focus wherewe need to focus. So, again, you see wecome back to how critical data uniformi-ty is in this process.

But how can technology impact datauniformity? Many of these issues willbe the subjects for discussion duringcommittee and regional meetingsthroughout our Workshop in SanAntonio. The Intelligent TransportationSystems (ITS) Committee works hard toensure a safe, efficient and economicallysound transportation system through theuse of information (continued on page 5)

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Embracing Evolving Technologies and UsingThem to our Advantage in ImplementingEffective Compliance and Enforcement StrategiesBy Buzzy France, CVSA President

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Buzzy France

I N S I G H T

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Moving Forward with Renewed Commitment

The theme “Moving Forward WithRenewed Commitment” can speak vol-umes to the current situation being con-fronted around the country and, indeed,the world. With economies struggling;federal, state, and local authorities seek-ing to maintain basic services (with vir-tually no attempts to expand programs),and commerce straining under burdensof expenses, logistics constraints; anddiminishing motivation to “do the rightthing,” everyone is being challenged todo what they can with what they have.Thus, everyone is seeking to find innova-tive and productive solutions that do notfurther strain resources or dismantlebudgets. In effect, that challenge is tokeep moving forward while striving torenew the commitment to quality.

One particular challenge being con-fronted is the need to ensure that allresources are as current in their knowl-edge as they can be. This drives the on-going need for training, informationexchange, dialog, and cooperation amongall players in the hazardous materials,transportation, and enforcement commu-nities. While the regulations have seennominal change over the past five years agreat deal has occurred in transportation,technology, and greater knowledge of thehazards of many commodities encoun-tered daily. Factored against the reduc-tions seen in funding for training andconferences by virtually all governmententities, the net effect has been to witnessa great deal of change while experiencingreduced opportunities to become familiarwith the changes that are taking place. Itis important to note that change is con-tinuing (often driven by economics) sothere is no option to stand idly by.

For these reasons, CVSA andCOHMED members continue to see

very similar challenges as all of the otherorganizations trying to address the issuesof HazMat enforcement, response andplanning. Simply put, there are very lim-ited funds to send personnel to thenational programs that have for yearsserved as the basis for informationexchange. Until 2007 or 2008, costs forsending several personnel to nationalconferences were considered a necessaryexpense. Since then, organizations havetaken a much harder and calculating lookat numbers—numbers as in cost as well

as numbers of people who can be sparedfrom regular duties to attend programs.

But, a valuable opportunity hasevolved that can benefit all groups. Thatopportunity is the growth and expansionof regionalized programs for training,information exchange, and interactionamong users, transporters, handlers, andregulators. One example of this evolu-tion can be seen in the increase of small-er, less expensive, more intense, and cost-effective programs in various regions ofthe United States. Hosted by state,regional, and in some cases even localorganizations, these conferences offerthe participant high quality instructionwith nationally prominent “experts” whoare regionally based. The net result is aprogram that costs much less and is morereadily accessible (closer to home), yetprovides the same quality of informationas many large national or internationalprograms. This is a very real example of

one way to get “more bang for the buck.”From a calculated perspective, it is oftenless expensive to send three people to aregional conference or program than itwas to send one person to a large“national” program. In addition to thebasic cost savings, sending several indi-viduals allows the “home” agency to berepresented in many or (perhaps all) ofthe program elements as compared toone individual only being able to partici-pate in one session at a time. In this way,the benefits are further multiplied.

One example of this is the Virginia/Mid-Atlantic Hazardous MaterialsConference and Symposium. The 2010conference will be the 26th annual offer-ing of training courses, seminars, andworkshops augmented by displays anddemonstrations, and capped by two and ahalf days of interaction with enforcementspecialists as well as response personnel,manufacturers, shippers, carriers, andusers. The conference roots stem from aclear understanding that hazardous mate-rials safety is a comprehensive challengethat can only be met by coordination,communication, and cooperation amongall of the players. The conference featuresupwards of eight to ten concurrent pro-gram sessions intermingled with sched-uled exhibits, displays, and demonstra-tions all for one low registration fee that isused to cover the costs for program pre-sentations (speaker travel, materials pro-duction, etc.) (continued on page 4)


One particular challenge being confronted is the need to ensure that all resources are as current in their knowledge as they can be. This drives the on-going need for training, information exchange,

dialog, and cooperation among all players in the hazardous materials,transportation, and enforcement communities.


Guardian

OP-ED

Uniformity and Consistency, a Moving Target

Uniformity is defined as “the state or qual-ity of being uniform; overall sameness,homogeneity, or regularity.” Consistencyis defined as, “steadfast adherence to thesame principles, course, form, agreement,harmony, or compatibility.”

CVSA is committed to achieving itsgoals of uniformity, compatibility and reci-procity of commercial vehicle inspectionsand enforcement activities throughoutNorth America by individuals dedicated tohighway safety and security. Uniform stan-dards and procedures adopted by CVSA

and MOU agencies require the applicationof the core principles of Integrity andExcellence to the roadside inspector.

The integrity of CVSA and the policiesit has adopted over the years are wellfounded. Each decision, policy change, orout-of-service criteria change followsestablished protocols set forth by the mem-bers. Some changes are not made easily, orunanimously, but a decision is made.

Excellence is the ultimate goal.Adhering to all policies, procedures, anduniform standards in order to arrive at aquality work product that can’t be ques-tioned is certainly where we all want tobe. CVSA provides the tools necessaryfor roadside inspectors to achieve theirgoal of excellence.

The real core of all that we stand for isconsistency. Standards, uniformity, andcompatibility are already addressedthrough the efforts of CVSA and its mem-bers. Consistency is the goal each agency,

each troop or unit commander, each roadsupervisor, and each inspector needs toembrace. Does each department train itspersonnel with the most updated informa-tion and guidance provided by CVSA andFMCSA? Is that information being rein-forced through the chain of commanddown to each roadside inspector? We areall equally responsible to ensure that all ofour enforcement decisions are done in aconsistent manner, ever mindful of the coreprinciples of Excellence and Integrity. Buthow is this done?

The original purpose of the roadsideinspection program was to identify thosecritical safety items that were the com-mon causes of commercial vehicle crashes.It still is. Under CVSA’s leadership, allmember agencies have an input as to whatthose critical safety items are. This list isalways in constant flux as technology andmethods of transportation improve.Enforcement, industry, and the FMCSAare partners in defining those safety itemsthat should be the focus of any inspection.Going beyond those critical safety itemsduring your inspection is just as impor-tant, because those other violations couldbe symptoms of a catastrophic failure inthe future. Or could they?

All carriers and drivers need to adhereto the Federal Motor Carrier SafetyRegulations (FMCSRs). One couldargue that a single marker light being outis a clear violation of the regulations.Could that single unlit marker light cause

a catastrophic failure and should it be onthe critical safety item list for out-of-serv-ice consideration? CVSA and all mem-bers have said no. Should you note it onyour inspection report? Absolutely. Aroadside inspection report is just that, areport of violations of the regulationsfound during an inspection while follow-ing the uniform inspection standards.When that report is given to thedriver/carrier, it is essentially a repairorder. Out-of-service items need to beaddressed immediately; the others need tobe addressed before being re-dispatched.

So, what is the problem with consis-tency? That question can only be answeredby evaluating the ethics of each depart-ment and each individual inspector. Is ityour policy to write all violations on yourinspection report, or just a summary ofwhat was found? Do you only write onebrake violation and refer to the brake charton the report, or do you list each one as aseparate line item on the report? If youfind a false log, do you write a violation foreach instance of falsification, or do youwrite one violation and use the otherinstances as supporting evidence?

As an agency, do you require supervi-sory review of inspections, or do you relyon the training and experience of theinspector? Did you call an inspection aLevel I without crawling underneath forbrake measurements? Did you decide tonot issue a CVSA decal because there is asingle marker light violation noted onyour report even though it is not a criticalsafety item? While a single jurisdiction isconfident it is applying the correct stan-dards towards its inspection program, areother jurisdictions applying the sameconsistency of standards? This is notmeant to be accusatory by any means, butrather a (continued on page 4)

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I N S I G H T

The original purpose of the roadside inspection program was to identify those critical safety items

that were the common causes of commercial vehicle crashes. It still is.


reminder that inconsistency affects theregulated industry negatively.

Consistency and ethics should also beextended to FMCSA and their relatedsafety programs. A representative of amotor carrier came to my office with adilemma. One of my troopers stoppedone of his drivers. The driver was foundto be disqualified due to a seven-year oldsuspension in another state. The carrierhad just done a driver history back-ground on that driver a day earlier,which came out clean. If this carrier isdoing things by the numbers to ensurecompliance with the regulations,shouldn’t FMCSA ensure state CDLprograms are reporting violations as theyshould? In this case, my trooper utilizedNLETS to query the driver’s history,which is our policy. The carrier utilizedCDLIS to query driver information.Which one is more accurate? In thiscase it was NLETS, but the state thatsuspended the driver never uploaded thesuspension to CDLIS as required byFMCSA’s CDL program. Was this fairto the carrier? No. All carriers shouldhave access to the same information asenforcement does roadside. By exten-sion, enforcement should not be forcedto utilize CDLIS as an authoritativesource until it is found to be accurate.

With the help of CVSA, this particularissue is being addressed, and a resolutionis being worked on.

FMCSRs also have inconsistencies.§391.15 that deal with disqualified drivershave two conflicting interpretations.DOT Interpretation # 3 says a driver isdisqualified if suspended by another juris-diction if the suspension was for a drivingviolation. Question # 10 says the driver isdisqualified if suspended for any reason.This now leads to inconsistencies withinthe enforcement community where onehas adopted the driver violation suspen-sion criteria, and others are followingquestion 10’s guidance. How does thatinconsistency now affect national carriersthat travel through all jurisdictions?

Comprehensive Safety Analysis(CSA) 2010 is on our doorstep andshould help to resolve some of the road-side inconsistencies with regard to howviolations found during a roadsideinspection are documented. CVSAplayed a significant leadership role inassisting FMCSA in a complete re-writeof available roadside violations for road-side inspection applications (i.e.,ASPEN), and assigning a certain valuefor each of those violations. The goal isto have the roadside inspector documentall violations just as if it were a repair

order, then allow the new value algorithmto assign the appropriate safety value to acertain carrier or driver. For thoseinspectors that noted all violations, itshould be transparent. For those thatsummarized violations, it will probablyadd to your documentation. The bottomline for inspectors is to just document theviolations you discover, and let the behindthe scenes calculations take place. Whilecarriers will now be more concernedabout any violation noted as they all willhave a certain value, the integrity of theinspector should not be questioned ifhe/she followed the established proce-dures for that level of inspection.

Uniformity and consistency willalways be moving targets. It shouldremain the charge of CVSA to help min-imize and keep the focus on inconsisten-cies. However, CVSA can’t do it alone.It is up to every roadside inspector, everyenforcement agency, and the FMCSA tostay informed about all changes. Becomeactive in bringing issues forward toCVSA with the mindset of quality,integrity, and excellence. Significantsafety decisions are not made in a vacu-um; every inspector and every agencyneeds to play a part.

Lt. Thomas E. Kelly, Maine State Police

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The conference theme for 2010 is,“Moving Forward With RenewedCommitment,” certainly a reflection of thecurrent challenges. Information regardingthe conference which will be held October20-22 in Hampton Virginia can beaccessed by visiting the website for theVirginia Association of HazardousMaterials Response Specialists (www.vir-giniahazmat.org). Pre-conference trainingcourses (certificates issued) will also beavailable and will be shown on the website.

For individuals not living or working inthe mid-Atlantic region, a Google-searchcan provide a wealth of information onother regional opportunities to gain cur-rent information on all things “HazMat.”

In a time when “doing more withless” can be translated as “spending less

but doing as much as possible,” seekinghigh quality opportunities for trainingand information access can be one wayof Moving Forward with RenewedCommitment.

M/Tpr. R. C. Powell, Virginia State Police

CVSA’s Guardian welcomes your letters and comments. To submit a letter send anemail to [email protected] or write to CVSA, c/o Guardian, 1101 17thStreet, NW, Suite 803, Washington, DC 20036.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR (continued from page 2)

OP-ED (continued from page 3)


GuardianI N S I G H T

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE(continued from page 1)

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technologies. My hat’s off to Cpl. RickKoontz of the Pennsylvania State Policefor chairing this committee and provid-ing an update on what their committeeis addressing. In addition, our Driver-Traffic Enforcement Committee pro-vides leadership through uniformity andconformity of driver related safety issuesand is diligent at promoting effectivetraffic enforcement strategies to reducecommercial motor vehicle (CMV)crashes . Thank you Capt . Gerr yKrolikowski of the Nebraska StatePatrol who chairs this committee and foralso providing members an update. Lastbut not least, thank you to all of our

regional members who are sharing theirstories of what’s working in the field byusing the data to facilitate safety and fur-ther our mission.

Technology impacts all of us andhas become a core component of howwe deliver our safety and enforcementprograms. We need to continue tosearch for technological advances thatenable our members to do more withless and create a force multiplier in thefield. With resource constraints a con-stant battle, being more targeted in ouractivities has and will continue to pro-vide results. In addition, CVSA hastaken a lead role in pushing for legisla-

tion in Congress to allow tax credits forfleets that purchase on board safetytechnologies. While we are makinggood progress on this issue, we stillhave some work to do. This is goodpublic policy — it gives incentives toprivate investment in proven safetytechnologies. With CSA 2010 and anumber of other technology researchand demonstration programs in processat the federal level, the future likelywill look much different than it istoday. We need to embrace this evolu-tion and use it to our advantage inimplementing more effective compli-ance and enforcement strategies.


The Legislative RundownBy Richard D. Henderson, CVSA, Director, Government Affairs

UCR Rule Finally at OMBOn March 9, 2010 the Secretary ofTransportation sent the new rule propos-ing an increase in the 2010 UnifiedCarrier Registration (UCR) fees to theOffice of Management and Budget(OMB). The OMB could take up to 90days to review the rule, or it could actsooner. States participating in UCR relyon its revenues for motor carrier safetyprograms. The fact that they have notreceived any UCR revenue thus far in2010 is causing a reduction of safetyenforcement programs, and furloughs andlayoffs of safety enforcement personnel.The situation is critical in many states.

Emphasis Shifts to Six-YearReauthorization BillCongress has passed and the President hassigned legislation extending the Safe,Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transpor-tation Equity Act — A Legacy for Users(SAFETEA-LU) to December 31, 2010 aswell as providing the Highway Trust Fundwith $19.5 billion so it can meet its finan-cial obligations through 2011. FMCSAand the state safety grant programs includ-ing MCSAP are funded from the HighwayTrust Fund.This extension allows FMCSAto award full year funding for Fiscal Year2010 to the States and Territories instead ofshort-term incremental funding necessitat-ed by a series of short-term ContinuingResolutions since Fiscal Year 2010 beganon October 1, 2009.

Whether a new six-year Reauthoriza-tion bill will be passed by December 31 ofthis year is still questionable. However,both the Senate Environment and PublicWorks Committee and the SenateCommerce Committee are now beginningwork on such a bill with the stated goal ofpassing a bill by the end of the year. The

Senate Commerce Committee has alreadyreported a bus safety bill out ofCommittee, S. 554, the “MotorcoachEnhanced Safety Act of 2009” and willsoon begin holding a series of motor carri-er safety hearings starting with a generalsafety oversight hearing in April. CVSAhas been invited to testify. On the Houseside, a core Reauthorization bill clearedthe Highways and Transit Subcommitteeback in June of 2009.

One possible scenario is for the Houseand Senate to complete work on most of

the major issues before the Novemberelections except for the more difficult issueof financing the long term bill which couldconceivably be dealt with in a lame ducksession of the 111th Congress. There is aprecedent for such a scenario. It occurredin 1982 when Congress passed the SurfaceTransportation Act in a lame duck session.

The problem thus far has been thereluctance of Congress to increase user feesuntil the economy has fully recovered fromthe recession. House Transportation andInfrastructure Committee ChairmanJames Oberstar (D-MN) has recently pro-posed the idea of Congress authorizing a$130 billion loan from the federal govern-ment’s General Fund to the HighwayTrust Fund to cover the shortfall anticipat-ed in funding the new bill. The loan wouldstart to be paid back in the 5th and 6th yearof the new bill when presumably a morerobust economy would allow enactment ofhigher user fees (largely fuel taxes).

Part of the process in any reauthoriza-tion effort involves an exchange of informa-tion and ideas between CVSA and Houseand Senate Committees drafting the bill.This is done formally through the hearingprocess. As mentioned earlier, CVSA hasbeen invited to testify at an upcomingSenate Commerce Committee hearing onsafety oversight. CVSA testified at an ear-lier hearing on Electronic On-BoardRecorders (EOBRs) in the Senate and onsize and weight issues in the House. But theprocess also involves many informal meet-

ings between CVSA and committee staffpersonnel. A recent meeting with SenateCommerce Committee staff provided anopportunity for CVSA to present its 12-point reauthorization plan in some detail.Recent meetings with the HouseTransportation and InfrastructureCommittee staff have focused in particularon CVSA’s size and weight and safetyexemption policies.

CVSA Participates In Capitol HillTruck Parking Press ConferenceCVSA participated in a March 16 pressconference held by Congressmen PaulTonko (D-NY) and Erik Paulsen (R-MN) to urge support for H.R. 2156, abill that they have introduced in theHouse creating a competitive grant pro-gram to help reduce the shortage of restarea parking and to allow public and pri-vate owners of existing rest areas toexpand and improve security. The bill,

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The fact that [states] have not received any UCR revenue…is causing a reduction in

safety enforcement programs....

Richard Henderson


Guardian

called “Jason’s Law,” is named after JasonRivenburg, a New York resident, who wassenselessly murdered during a robbery onMarch 5, 2009 while parked at an aban-doned gas station in the vicinity of the I-95 Corridor in the Southeast part of thecountry. Truckers had been using this lotdue to a shortage of rest stops in the area.

The bill has drawn a wide range ofsupporting organizations that includeCVSA, American Trucking Associations(ATA), Owner-Operator IndependentDrivers Association (OOIDA), the NewYork State Motor Truck Association,Advocates for Highway and Auto Safetyand the American Moving and StorageAssociation.

Campaign for Truck SafetyTechnology Bill ContinuesEfforts to gain more support for H.R.2024 in the House and S. 1582 in theSenate, the “Commercial MotorVehicle Advanced Safety TechnologyTax Act of 2009” are continuing.There are 32 co-sponsors in the Houseand three in the Senate. These billsprovide tax credits for carriers whopurchase any one of four technologies:brake stroke monitoring, collisionavoidance, lane departure warning andvehicle stability systems. A wide rangeof organizations representing industryand state governments support the billand are actively working for its passagein the Congress.

Appropriations Process for 2011Budget UnderwayBoth the Senate and House DOT-HUD-and Related Agencies AppropriationsSubcommittees have begun work on theFY 2011 Budget. FMCSA is the onlymodal administration for which DOT’s

request reflects an increase from the 2010funding levels. The increase of $20 mil-lion would mostly fund FMCSA costsassociated with the implementation ofComprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA)2010. It may also be important to deter-mine what the additional CSA 2010 costswill be to the states as well.

You may recall that the FY 2010Appropriations bill contained the Maineand Vermont size and weight pilot proj-ects allowing the existing 80,000 lb.

weight limit on the Federal InterstateSystem to be exceeded. It would not besurprising if there are efforts to continuethese pilots as well as to considerrequests from additional states to beincluded in the pilots. CVSA will bepressing the point that such pilots needto be carefully defined with a compre-hensive set of uniform standards that willyield information on the effects on thehighway infrastructure as well as onmotor carrier safety.

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LIFESAVERSApril 11-14Philadelphia, PA

TRUCK WORLDApril 15-17Toronto, ON, Canada

CCMTA ANNUAL MEETINGMay 16-20Fredericton, NB, Canada

DOE NATIONALTRANSPORTATIONSTAKEHOLDER FORUMMay 24-27Chicago, IL

CONTRACTORS MANAGEMENTASSOCIATION (CTMA)June 20-24Portland, OR

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF

NATIONAL SHERIFFSASSOCIATION, ANNUALCONFERENCEJune 26-30Anaheim, CA

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OFCOUNTY OFFICIALS (NACO)July 16-20Reno, NV

AMERICAN DRIVER & TRAFFICSAFETY EDUCATIONASSOCIATION, ANNUALCONFERENCEJuly 24-29St. Louis, MO

GOVERNOR’S HIGHWAY SAFETYASSOCIATION (GHSA)September 26-29Kansas City, MO

CVSA TRADE SHOWAPPEARANCES


For the first 13 years of my career withthe California Highway Patrol (CHP), Iwatched technologies in law enforce-ment advance at a brisk pace. In 1993 Ientered the Commercial Enforcementprogram of the CHP where I remainedfor most of my final 16 years. I recallthinking we were limited in the use oftechnologies within the commercialenforcement arena and that some of thebasic technologies used in general lawenforcement did not have applications inmy new world. Today we are inundatedwith new technologies for the inspectors,roadside enforcement, data systems andthe commercial vehicles.

I’d like to focus on a few of the majorstepping stones which took us from penciland pad to the robust automated systemswe have today and also touch upon wherewe may be going in the near future in theU.S. based on some of the initiativesFMCSA has presented in recent years.

DATA COLLECTION AND SHARING

ASPENASPEN was still in the early developmentstages and viewed as a new technology inthe early 1990s. It was viewed as a meansto make FMCSA and state roadsideinspections more efficient and improvesafety. The initial concept was to simplifythe recording process for the inspector,improve accuracy of the data being collect-ed, increase uniformity of the violationsbeing recorded, and, improve the timeli-ness of the data being forwarded toSAFETYNET. Specifically, ASPEN wasa software application designed to conductinspections on Commercial MotorVehicles (CMVs) and their drivers. Thesoftware ran on laptop computers either ina mobile unit or at a fixed inspection site.

The days of the pencil and illegible inspec-tion reports were over as ASPEN collect-ed the inspection details and printed thosedetails in an associated report for the driv-er and carrier. In addition, the ASPENinspection data was uploaded throughSAFER to SAFETYNET and theinspection record was sent on to theMotor Carrier Management InformationSystem (MCMIS).

As outlined in a FMCSA ASPENfact sheet, ASPEN has grown to inter-face with different systems to help pro-vide data uniformity in the followingmanner:

ASPEN imports from the followingapplications:• Query Central - Carrier, driver, and

vehicle data can be imported fromQuery Central;

• Inspection Selection System (ISS) -Carrier data can be imported fromISS if internet access to QueryCentral is not available; and,

• Third Party Application - This datais dependent on the type of data col-lected and desired by the state.

ASPEN exports to the following appli-cations:• Commercial Drivers License

Information System (CDLIS)Access - Driver data can be exportedto the CDLIS Access application;

• Past Inspection Query (PIQ) -Vehicle data can be exported to PIQ;

• CaseRite - Carrier and Inspectiondata can be exported to CaseRite;

• SAFETYNET; and,• SAFER.

ASPEN has proven to be very successful.We have seen a tremendous improvement

in the accuracy and timelines of inspec-tions reports over the years, as well as theability to distribute the data to a numberof data systems in a near seamless fashion.

Commercial Vehicle InformationSystems and Networks (CVISN)As the Project Manager for CVISN inCalifornia (one of the seven pilot states),I remember spending a great deal of timeon airplanes, on conference calls, and inmeetings throughout 1996 and 1997.The seven pilot state project teamsworked closely with FMCSA and JohnsHopkins University, Applied PhysicsLaboratory ( JHUAPL) to develop thearchitecture for the seven states, and in asense, CVISN itself. Our main objec-tives were to focus safety enforcement onhigh-risk operators, integrate legacy datasystems to improve the accuracy, integri-ty and validity of credentials, improveefficiency through electronic screening ofcommercial vehicles, and enable onlineapplication and issuance of credentials.

The expanded CVISN has endeav-ored to include virtual weigh stations,license plate readers, oversize/overweightpermits, one-stop shopping portal forcredentialing of motor carriers and driverinformation sharing through the use ofdriver license card swipes and biometrics.

At this point, according to the FMCSACVISN webpage, all 50 states are eithermoving toward Expanded CVISN, areCore Compliant, or are in the planningstage of becoming Core Compliant.

Performance and RegistrationInformation Systems Management(PRISM)PRISM and CVISN are closely relatedprograms which are managed byFMCSA. PRISM is comprised of two

KNOWLEDGE MATTERS

Collecting, Assessing Relevant Information Through Technology Provides Us with theMeans to Make Smarter Choices By Steve Vaughn, Chief, California Highway Patrol (Retired), CVSA President 2000–2001

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major processes: 1) the CommercialVehicle Registration Process, and 2) theMotor Carrier Safety ImprovementProcess (MCSIP). These processes workin conjunction with one another to iden-tify motor carriers and hold them respon-sible for the safety of their operation.

The commercial vehicle registrationprocess ensures that all carriers engagedin interstate commerce are uniquelyidentified through a USDOT numberwhen they register their vehicles. Thesafety fitness of each carrier can then bechecked prior to issuing vehicle registra-tions. Thus, motor carriers that havebeen prohibited from operating in inter-state commerce may have their ability toregister vehicles denied.

MCSIP is the means by which amotor carrier’s safety is systematicallytracked and improved. The process isdesigned to improve the safety perform-ance of motor carriers with demonstrat-ed poor safety performance throughaccurate identification, performancemonitoring and treatment.

While ASPEN, CVISN and PRISMprovided a means to collect inspectiondata and transmit the inspection reports

in a timely manner, we also sawadvancement in other roadside tech-nologies which were designed to assistinspectors in focusing on vehicles thatwarranted extra attention. A few of themore common technologies usedincluded the following:

Roadside By-Pass SystemsThe first by-pass system was conceivedin 1983 by Heavy Vehicle License Plate(HELP). HELP was instrumental indeveloping the intelligent vehicle-high-way system (IVHS) initiative for com-mercial vehicle operators (CVO). Theprogram evolved through several phasesincluding concept exploration, feasibility,project development and technical study.

The project, which became known asthe Crescent Project, was intended todemonstrate the integrated technologiesthat today form the basis of PrePass:Automated Vehicle Identification (AVI),Automated Vehicle Classification (AVC),and Weigh-In-Motion (WIM). ThePrePass service began in 1995 with fivesites in California. As of today, the PrePasssystem has grown to 287 operational sitesin 29 states with over 425,000 commercial

vehicles enrolled in the system.NORPASS (North American Pre-

clearance and Safety System) is anotherorganization which formed a partnershipbetween state agencies and the truckingindustry. The program currently is operat-ing in seven states with over 100,000commercial vehicles enrolled.

Both systems, in addition to the statesof Oregon and North Carolina, whichdeveloped their own systems, utilizetransponders to allow vehicles to bypassthe roadside inspection sites without stop-ping if predetermined safety and credentialinformation is current as outlined by eachof the individual state users. Oregon’sGreen Light weigh station preclearanceprogram started keeping track of greenlights in January 1999.The program is nowserving 4,496 trucking companies with37,832 trucks equipped with transponders.

Infrared Sensor SystemsSeveral states elected to implementadditional features to further screenpotential vehicles for inspection byusing infrared sensor systems. The sen-sors look for unusually hot or cold read-ing on specific equipment such asbrakes, wheel bearing and tires whichmay indicate a significant safety hazard.Inspectors monitoring these systemscan then signal the vehicle to pull in forfurther inspection.

License Plate and DOT ReadersThe use of license plate and DOT num-ber readers has proven to be useful incapturing images of CMVs which canthen be used to manually or automatical-ly input the information into systemssuch as ISS or ASPEN. This use oftechnology provides the following bene-fits: 1) reduces the amount of time an

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I N S I G H T


inspector must spend populating aninspection report, 2) provides informa-tion which can assist the inspector ondetermining the need to inspect a vehi-cle, and 3) saves valuable time for themotor carrier being inspected.

On Board CMV TechnologiesElectronic on-board recorders (EOBR) canautomatically record the hours that com-mercial operators drive CMVs. While herein the United States some carriers useEOBR simply as an electronic log book, inmany countries around the world EOBRsare used to monitor a drivers hours of serv-ice. An EOBRcan be linked withengines, transmis-sions and globalpositioning system(GPS) devices torecord the distancea CMV has trav-eled monitor thespeed and deter-mine whether ithas used an illegalroute.

GPS is not widely used for commercialroadside enforcement today. However, it isused daily in other aspects of lawenforcement and has tremendous poten-tial in the commercial motor vehicleenforcement world. Law enforcementuse today is generally limited to criminalinvestigations of cargo theft, HomelandSecurity issues, geo-fencing and acci-dent investigation. However, as weadvance roadside technologies, the usefor commercial law enforcement appli-cations will increase. They could paral-lel the manner in which the motor carri-er industry uses GPS today.

While these technologies weredesigned to assist the roadside inspector,other technologies were becoming of ageto improve the safety of CMVs, assistmotor carriers in the management of theirfleets, and generally improve the operationof CMVs. A few of these technologies areoutlined in the following paragraphs.

Electronic Control Units (ECUs)

found on modern heavy duty trucksallows for an array of vehicle sensors tocollect information of critical safetycomponents in real-time; essentiallyconducting a self-inspection of the vehi-cle. The most common uses todayinclude sensors for monitoring brakesystems, other electronically controlledcomponents, engine usage, transmis-sions and tire pressure. The technologyhas provided carriers with the ability tomonitor service requirements by down-loading the information from the ECUsthus making them safer and more effi-cient. In addition, during times of

increased fuel costs, they can bettermonitor fuel and oil usage assisting inplanning of expenditures and seekingmore productive methods of operation.Finally, within the safety departments,ECUs allow for monitoring of hardbraking applications, which could sug-gest a driver is following too close.Additionally, through monitoring thetachometer an assessment of drivingspeeds of their drivers can be deter-mined. This can be critical in assessingunsafe driving practices of drivers orestablish new training needs.

Collision Mitigation Systems, LaneDeparture Warning, and Vehicle StabilitySystems are also technologies that havebeen addressed by FMCSA and motorcarriers as a method to improve safety onour highways. The most obvious advan-tage to these new systems is that theyreduce crashes, thereby reducing thenumber of injuries and fatalities on ourhighways. For the carriers, it also pro-duces tremendous benefits by reducing

the potential of loss of cargo, equipmentand time. Furthermore, many insurancecarriers provide discounted rates when amotor carrier equips their vehicles withsuch technology.

Bridging the TechnologiesWhile I’ve only touched upon a few of the tech-nologies that we’ve seen in the past 20 years, Ibelieve these are the main stepping stones inwhich FMCSA, the states and industry haveimproved safety on highways in the U.S. Newinitiatives such as CSA 2010 and WirelessRoadside Inspections (WRI) bring many ofthese technologies together in an effort to afford

the roadside inspec-tor a better methodto target motor carri-ers that are in need ofcloser scrutiny basedon past performance.Furthermore, itprovides motor carri-ers the opportunityto utilize the sameinformation for thepurpose of self polic-

ing and enhancing their safety programs.Although the motor carrier industry

and government officials as a whole workin a diligent manner to maintain safeoperations, we still have room forimprovement. Collecting and assessingrelevant information through technologyprovides us with the means to makesmarter choices in carrying out that task.In an era when enforcement agencies andmotor carriers are facing economic andpersonnel challenges, technology canprovide the necessary assistance.However, we must recognize that tech-nology does not come without an associ-ated price tag. The implementation ofsuch technologies can be costly and weface the challenge of new and advancingtechnologies which further increase thosecosts. Finally, we must recognize thattechnology will never replace the com-mitment and dedication of those individ-uals in our enforcement programs andindustry that continue to strive to makethe nation’s highways safer for all users.

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In an era when enforcement agencies and motor carriers are facing economic and personnel challenges,

technology can provide the necessary assistance…[but] we must recognize that technology will never

replace the commitment and dedication of those individuals in our enforcement programs.


The days have certainly passed quicklysince I experienced the honor or beingsworn in as the fourth Administrator ofFMCSA last November. Since that time,we have already accomplished a greatdeal with a number of critical safety deci-sions made with clarity and conviction.Each and every moment, safety remainsour number one priority at FMCSA andthe U.S. Department of Transportation.

My personal focus is driven by threeareas of emphasis that I believe will pro-duce the greatest benefit toward reducingcommercial vehicle-related fatalities: 1)Raise the safety bar to enter the industry;2) Maintain high safety standards toremain in the industry; and, 3) Removehigh-risk operators from our roads andhighways.

Everything we do must be tied to thesethree priorities – whether it’s determiningwho is qualified to be credentialed, devel-oping roadside enforcement tools for ourlaw enforcement partners, preventing dan-gerous driver behavior, or examining high-risk carriers and taking action before theyengage in unsafe actions. CVSA and itsmembers are FMCSA’s force multiplier inthis equation.

With these top three priorities as aguide, and with CVSA’s leadership onuniformity and effectiveness in motorcarrier safety enforcement, I am con-vinced we will achieve significantimprovements in commercial vehiclesafety on the road ahead.

Raising the Safety BarThrough our partnership, we must con-tinue to raise the bar to entry into themotor carrier industry by building uponthe enhanced review process of newapplicants for passenger and householdgoods authority. Under FMCSA’s vet-

ting procedures, new applicants areinvestigated for connections to other car-riers who possess a history of safety vio-lations or those against whom punitiveactions have been taken.

I commend our state law enforcementpartners for their superb assistance in help-ing FMCSA to roll out the New EntrantAudits. Through this program, we areidentifying start-up companies who pos-sess safety issues that must be addressedbefore they can continue to operate.

FMCSA is committed to expandingthe enhanced vetting program currentlyin place for passenger carriers and house-hold goods carriers to all new entrants.When fully implemented in 2011, youcan be assured carriers will have receivedclose scrutiny before a new entrant auditis scheduled.

Maintain High Safety StandardsMaking sure that all carriers, drivers andservice providers who get credentialsthrough FMCSA maintain the highestsafety standards is a cornerstone of ourmission.

As prominently featured in the firstquarter 2010 issue of Guardian,Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 –or CSA 2010 – provides the roadmapforward for ensuring that anyoneengaged in commercial vehicle opera-tions maintains high safety standards.

Carriers will be assessed by seven keyfactors: unsafe driving, fatigued driving,driver fitness, crash history, vehicle main-tenance, improper loading, and cargo andcontrolled substances. The practice of a“one-size fits all” compliance reviewmodel will soon be a thing of the past.

CSA 2010 is designed to give stateand federal law enforcement personnelthe highly-focused safety performance

information needed to determine themost appropriate level of intervention. Itwill include a range of interventions –from warning letters all the way to com-prehensive on-site compliance reviews.

Another issue that speaks to highsafety standards includes hours-of-serv-ice (HOS) rules. In just the first threemonths of 2010, FMCSA has held atotal of five pubic listening sessions inpreparation for an HOS rulemaking pro-posal to be published later this year.These listening sessions embodyPresident Obama’s pledge for trans-parency in government. It is vital thatwe hear and understand what the rest ofthe country is thinking, particularly ourpartners in law enforcement.

The feedback we have received willallow us a better perspective when lookingat the research and developing a final pro-posal for a new rule on HOS.

Remove High Risk Carriers, Driversand BehaviorsOur approach to removing high risk car-riers will be multi-faceted. FMCSA’sEnforcement Division has begun compil-ing a monthly “Top 100” list of high riskhousehold goods carriers who also havesevere safety issues. Follow-up is done byFMCSA’s field staff to assess their safetymanagement practices – with impressiveresults. Of the current 100, to date, 39enforcement cases have been filed.

Together with CVSA members,we con-tinue to implement strategic strike forces forpassenger carriers. In the most recent strikeforce alone, approximately 1,300 roadsideinspections occurred. This was compli-mented by more than 70 compliancereviews of high risk passenger carriers.

Maintaining high standards alsorequires addressing (continued on page 12)

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FMCSA ADMINISTRATOR’S MESSAGE

Setting the Bar High for SafetyBy Anne S. Ferro, FMCSA, Administrator

Anne S. Ferro


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New DataQs System User Guide to StrengthenReview ProcessBy Betsy Benkowski, FMCSA, State Data Quality Program Manager


Strong quality data has always been a toppriority for the FMCSA. It is essential tofulfill the agency’s research, analysis and pol-icy development responsibilities. With theupcoming launch of the ComprehensiveSafety Analysis (CSA) 2010 program, thequality of the data collected and reported byFMCSA and its state partners has neverbeen more critical.

CSA 2010 requires data collectedfrom police accident reports and roadsideinspections to be included in the carriers’and commercial drivers’ safety profiles.With CSA 2010, every aspect of everyinspection counts – not just the out-of-service violations.

FMCSA’s online “DataQs” systemhas served as the primary mechanismwhereby carriers and commercial driverscan challenge the accuracy of data thatused to determine safety fitness ratings.

The DataQs system is an online por-tal for filing concerns about data releasedto the public by FMCSA. It allows usersto monitor the status of a challenge fromsubmission to resolution.

The DataQs system is comprised of anetwork of federal and state analysts whoreview and evaluate the data, the chal-lenge and the corresponding evidence or

supporting information that has beensupplied. Each data challenge or requestfor review submitted by a carrier or driv-er is routed to the appropriate federal orstate office for resolution.

Since 2004, the DataQs system hasreceived approximately 72,000 requestsfor data reviews (RDR) or challenges tothe data from more than 18 millionrecords collected.

More than 67 percent of the challengesreviewed resulted in record updates.

FMCSA, with the support of its statepartners, is in the process of developing a“DataQs User’s Guide and Best PracticesManual.” This manual will include rec-ommendations for operational proce-dures that federal and state analysts mayuse to efficiently resolve challenges. Theguide will help improve consistency andstandardize the resolution process.

The DataQs Users Guide and BestPractices Manual will also cover the fol-lowing areas:• Timeframes for responses• Documents required to corroborate

that challenges are valid• Sources available to validate data• Recommended “due process” procedures• Appeals• Sample case studies• Additional resources

The manual will not replace a stateDataQs analyst’s careful review and con-sideration of the factors that may be uniqueto each challenge, because two scenariosare seldom identical. Overall, the manual’srecommendations are intended to supportuniformity of the DataQs process across allstates while still preserving discretion andjudgment required by unique cases.

FMCSA anticipates releasing of theDataQs manual in the third quarter of2010. The FMCSA technical staff isalways available to provide assistancetoward improving the processes, appli-cations and safety data. For moreinformation, contact [email protected] or call FMCSA toll free 1-800-832-5660.

irresponsible behaviors, particularly driveractions that take their attention from theroad. The entire U.S. Department ofTransportation is committed to eliminat-ing distracted driving.

Earlier this year, Secretary LaHoodand I announced our decision to use exist-ing FMCSA authority to prohibit com-mercial truck and bus drivers from textingwhile driving, using any handheld cell

phone or other device. A formal rule-making to ban texting is soon to follow.

No Shortcuts Just as there are “no shortcuts to anyplaceworth going,” I believe there are no shortcuts in commercial vehicle safety. We mustcontinually do the hard work – because onefatality on the road is one too many.

With your steady, strong partnership,

we will continue to make progress inimproving our safety tools and strategiestoward the goal of helping every jurisdic-tion achieve a continuing reduction inthe number and severity of commercialvehicles crashes.

As FMCSA Administrator, my visionis to set the bar high for safety. By work-ing together, I am confident we willachieve it.

FMCSA ADMINISTRATOR’S MESSAGE (continued from page 11)


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F E D E R A L N E W S

Employer Notification Service Program Provides Solution to Carriers on Changes toDriver CDL StatusBy Chris Flanigan, FMCSA, General Engineer, Office of Analysis, Research and Technology

Research has shown that drivers withtraffic-related convictions are morelikely to be involved in future crashesthan are their counterparts with noconvictions. Among the nation’s mil-lions of commercial driver’s license(CDL) holders, approximately 800,000receive one or more traffic convictioneach year. By focusing on these “atrisk” drivers, the overall number ofcommercial vehicle-related crasheswould be reduced.

To accomplish this, carriers needtimely information to allow them to takeappropriate steps. Currently, FMCSArequires carriers to check the CDL statusof the drivers they employ at least onceeach year. Drivers are required to notifytheir employers within 30 days of a con-viction for traffic violations, regardless ofthe nature of the violation or the type ofvehicle that was being driven at the time.Understandably, but unfortunately, someCDL drivers do not report convictions totheir employers in a timely manner. Insome worst case scenarios, a period ofalmost one year may lapse between adrivers’ conviction and their employerlearning of the event. Employer notifica-tion systems provide a solution. A carri-er is able to register its drivers and auto-matically be notified of a change in theirCDL status.

Currently, 13 states have some formof these employer notification systemsin place. There are also a number of pri-vate entities that have contractualarrangements with states that allowthem to provide this service to carriers.These third party providers, however,only have arrangements with 29 statesresulting in gaps in national coverage.

Based on the success of state-run andprivate systems, FMCSA initiated the

Employer Notification Service (ENS)program. It began with the develop-ment of a prototype system that waspilot tested in Minnesota and Colorado.Seven carriers participated with nearly900 drivers enrolled in the test program.The pilot was considered a success bymany measures. The system functionedas intended, carriers were able to takeappropriate actions much more quickly,and participant carriers and statesincurred very little cost. Additionally,motor carriers were able to identify andquantify significant benefits in terms ofearly identification of poor driver per-formance and/or driver behavior issues.

FMCSA is now developing an imple-mentation plan that will address policyissues to be considered in deploying anational ENS system. The three mainmodes of deployment that are being con-sidered include:1) A federally administered system,

where conviction data would be col-lected at a central site and then dis-tributed to participating carriers;

2) A market-based system, where cur-rently established programs wouldcontinue along with effort to per-suade the remaining non-participat-ing states to sign-up; and,

3) A hybrid approach where FMCSAwould set minimum specifications fora system, certify third parties for par-ticipation in the program, and lever-age a current national driver convic-tion database such as the CommercialDriver’s License Information System(CDLIS) to provide carriers with thisinformation.

For more information, [email protected] or call FMCSAtoll free 1-800-832-5660.


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FMCSA Issues Amended Guidance onEnforcement of Federal Out-of-Service Ordersat RoadsideBy Jack Kostelnik, FMCSA, Team Leader, State Programs Division

On November 17, 2009, FMCSA issuedamended guidance to Motor CarrierSafety Assistance Program (MCSAP)enforcement personnel regarding federalout-of-service orders (OOSO) issued tomotor carriers. This memorandumsuperseded a previously issued guidancedated May 9, 2009.

Roadside Data AvailabilityEnforcement personnel, whether at fixedfacilities or on patrol, have several meansavailable to obtain operating authorityand OOSO information during a com-mercial vehicle inspection. While thisinformation may be accessed throughmultiple means, there is preferred pro-gression of resources that should bechecked in the following sequencewhenever possible.

Most Timely Data to Least TimelyData1. Query Central (updated in real-time

for OOSO status).2. The International Justice and Public

Safety Network – Nlets – carrierquery (updated Mondays throughThursdays and Saturdays).

3. Safer Website (updated Mondaysthrough Thursdays and Saturdays).

4. Inspection Selection System (updat-ed monthly).

OOSO Status VerificationVerification of a federal OOSOagainst a motor carrier is a two-stepprocess. First, the OOSO must be dis-covered at the roadside through aquery on the motor carrier’s record.Second, once an OOS condition isidentified, enforcement personnelmust verify the status of the OOSOusing Query Central. Exception: If

Query Central cannot be used at theroadside, any OOSO identified mustbe verified by contacting the appropri-ate FMCSA Service Center beforeplacing the vehicle OOS.

Documenting OOS Based UponFederal OOSOIf a valid OOSO is discovered andverified, enforcement personnel must

place only the power unit OOS, andshould indicate the appropriateFMCSR section that pertains to theOOSO on the inspection report (andcitation if issued).

Enforcement personnel should followtheir individual department policies andprocedures according to the laws of thestate when placing a power unit OOS.The inspection report should includeinstructions to the carrier to contactFMCSA at the number in the OOSOdocument they received previously. Theenforcement official should also informthe driver that this OOSO is a carrierviolation and will have no bearing onhis/her driver record.

Query Central is Preferred MethodThe use of Query Central is the preferredmethod for obtaining after hours operat-ing authority and OOSO information. If

Description Section

Failure to Pay Fine – Private Carrier 386.83(a)(1)

Failure to Pay Fine – For-Hire Carrier 386.83(a)(1)

UNSAT/UNFIT – Placarded HM & Passenger Carriers 385.13(a)(1)

UNSAT/UNFIT – Property Carriers 385.13(a)(2)

New Entrant – Failure of Safety Audit 385.325(c)

New Entrant – Refusal of Audit/No Contact 385.337(b)

Imminent Hazard 386.72(b)(2)

MX Carrier – Inadequate Corrective Action 385.105(b)

MX Carrier – UNSAT/UNFIT 385.111(a)

MX Carrier – Suspended Operating Authority for

UNSAT Rating or Failed Safety Audit 385.111(c)(1)

MX Carrier – Revoked Operating Authority 385.111(c)(2)


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an OOSO is discovered but cannot beverified (FMCSA Service Center isclosed, for example), enforcement per-sonnel should only decline to place a car-rier OOS if absolutely necessary.

If the carrier is not placed OOS, theenforcement official should make copiesof pertinent paperwork (bills of lading,receipts, etc.), if possible, to demonstratethat the carrier was operating in inter-state commerce at the time of the inspec-tion. Evidence of violation of the OOSOmay include the FMCSA document pro-hibiting interstate operations and a copyor facsimile of the inspection or crashreport indicating interstate activity.

Enforcement personnel should for-ward the information as soon as possibleto the appropriate FMCSA DivisionOffice for follow-up to determine thecarrier’s actual operating status at thetime of the inspection. If FMCSA

determines that the carrier was operatingwhile a valid OOSO was in effect, anenforcement case may be initiated by theDivision Office.

Corrective Actions for OOSOWhen an OOSO is discovered and veri-fied at the roadside, the correctiveactions by the carrier for violations are asfollows:

1. Satisfy all requirements in theFederal OOSO (including reinstate-ment of suspended or revoked oper-ating authority, if required);

2. Arrange for an authorized carrier todeliver the cargo (OOS carrier’spower unit may not be used); or,

3. Arrange for the vehicle to be towedback to the carrier’s terminal.The carrier remains OOS until

the OOSO has been officially rescinded

by the appropriate FMCSA FieldAdministrator.

Final NoteAll federal OOSO are issued andrescinded in the Motor CarrierManagement Information System(MCMIS) by FMCSA EnforcementTeam personnel as delegated by theFMCSA Field Administrators. Stateenforcement personnel will not bedirectly notified by FMCSA when themotor carrier’s OOSO has been satis-fied. In order to verify that the OOSOhas been rescinded, the enforcementofficial must check the carrier’s recordthrough Query Central or contact theEnforcement Program Coordinator inthe appropriate FMCSA ServiceCenter. For more information [email protected] or call FMCSAtoll free 1-800-832-5660.

FMCSA Examining Additional Data Retrieval Via NletsBy David Goettee, FMCSA, Senior Program Manager, Office of Analysis, Research and Technology

In 1996, the Federal Highway Administration’s Office ofMotor Carriers first began providing information to lawenforcement personnel via an electronic information net-work known as Nlets.

Operated by the International Justice and PublicSafety Network, Nlets continues to be an important toolfor obtaining commercial vehicle and driver safety infor-mation.

FMCSA is currently implementing a research projectto evaluate the feasibility of providing additional motorcarrier data as well as commercial driver’s license infor-mation to law enforcement personnel via Nlets. It hasbeen a longstanding challenge to make safety informa-

tion available to enforcement personnel whether at fixedfacilities or on patrol who use Nlets but do not haveaccess to Query Central. A user committee comprised ofstate members is currently providing inputs into thedesign approach. The project will also determine esti-mated costs that would be incurred to provide CDLISdata via Nlets. The launch of the test project is antici-pated in summer 2010.

A related study will examine the feasibility of non-Nletsusers of Query Central to make inquiries via Nlets for infor-mation such as vehicle registration. For more information,contact [email protected] or call FMCSA toll free 1-800-832-5660.


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Results of Brake Wear, Performance FieldOperational Test Show Increase in Brake EfficiencyBy Chris Flanigan, FMCSA, General Engineer, Office of Analysis, Research and Technology


An 18-month long field operational testof commercial motor vehicle brake wearand performance was completed by theOak Ridge National Laboratory in cooper-ation with the Tennessee Department ofSafety in September 2009.

Using a Performance Based BrakeTester (PBBT) machine with certifiedtrained operators, four types of vehicleswere studied during the test: Class-8combination tanker trucks, Class-8 tri-axle dump trucks, Class-8 combinationdry-box vans, and Class-8 motorcoaches.These vehicles were fitted with new brakelining, rotors and drums and their otherfoundation brake components wereinspected and repaired as needed to bringthe vehicles to good serviceable condition.

The test was designed to:• Quantify, using a PBBT, heavy vehi-

cle braking performance of multiplevehicles over time in a real-worldenvironment;

• Detect a vehicle with a braking sys-tem failure or gross degradation(ruptured wheel seal, improperlyfunctioning brake chamber, etc.);

• Monitor the operational issue, failuresand acceptance level of user personnelof an in-ground PBBT over time;

• Measure the acceptance and opera-tional ease of an in-ground PBBT bydrivers over time;

• Measure the total wear of brake lining,drums and rotors at the end of theirnormal life as a function of mileage; and,

• Explore drum ovality at the end ofcomponent life and explore possiblecorrelation to PBBT ovality meas-urements.

Overall, these vehicles logged morethan 800,000 miles. The longest singlevehicle miles traveled came from over-the-road tractor-trailers at 174,000miles; the shortest vehicle miles traveledcame from dump trucks at 34,000 miles.

Test ResultsIn 95 percent of all cases studied, anincrease in brake efficiency was seen inthe first part of the brake’s life cycle. Thesingle-axle brake efficiency informationcollected showed that within 5,000 milesof the initial test, gains in brake efficien-cy were in the order of an average of 17.5percent. In 96 percent of the study cases,a statistically significant brake degrada-tion pattern could not be detected.

The field operations test showed thatwell maintained brakes result in high

Photos: (Top) New linings are installed on tankertractor drive axle. (Bottom) Initial brake liningmeasurements are collected for dump trucks.

Sample Use of CMV Enforcement Resource Evaluation Worksheet

* Estimates shown are based on a four-hour inspection period using estimated times forLevel-I, II and III inspections provided by CVSA, OOS rates from the 2009 Safety Checkwhere available, and experimentally determined values from this study where nationaldata were not available.

*



17

performance – even after a considerablylarge number of miles are logged.

With the recent addition of the PBBTmachine to CVSA’s North AmericanStandard Out-of-Service Criteria, the ques-tion of how best to utilize the PBBTmachine has been raised by the TennesseeDepartment of Safety. FMCSA commis-sioned the Oak Ridge National Laboratoryto conduct a series of short-term tests toinvestigate how the PBBT machine canwork within the current levels of NorthAmerican Standard Inspections.

Testing was conducted from June 2,2009, to July 13, 2009. The PBBT wasused and examined as a substitute for thebrake stroke measurements of the tradi-tional Level I inspection and as a stand-alone Level IV special inspection. Partof this study also explored how the use ofan inspection pit instead of a mechanic’screeper affects the overall performanceof Level I inspections.

During the course of these tests, 139vehicles were inspected. Eighty Level-Iinspections were performed resulting in 37OOS orders for various defects. Oneresult of this short-term test revealed thatan inspection pit appears to make it possi-ble to identify nearly twice as many defects– as the inspector’s access is not hinderedby low aerodynamic fairings, suspensioncomponents or drop-deck trailers.

The study found that the use of thePBBT as a substitute for the brakestroke measurement takes slightly longerthan taking the physical brake strokemeasurements (provided a pit was usedfor the physical measurements). Thebrake related OOS rate decreased withthe use of the PBBT in place of the nor-mal brake stroke measurement as thePBBT’s OOS criteria is based on totalvehicle brake performance and not eachindividual brake stroke measurement.Thus, if a vehicle has two or more brakesabove the adjustment limit, the vehiclebrake performance may pass the PBBTOOSC – but may not pass the brakestroke measurement OOSC.

The inspection timing and OOSinformation collected from this testing

FMCSA Hosts 5th AnnualMCSAP Leadership ConferenceBy Tom Keane, FMCSA, Chief, State Programs Division

FMCSA will host its 5th Annual MotorCarrier Safety Assistance Program(MCSAP) Leadership Conference onApril 22, 2010, in San Antonio, TX. Thepurpose of the conference is to pro-vide a forum for the exchange of infor-mation with the senior leaders of stateMCSAP lead agencies on current com-mercial motor vehicle (CMV) safetyand enforcement issues.

New FMCSA policies and program-matic changes to help improve com-mercial vehicle safety through increasedMCSAP delivery of national programsand the need to increase CMV-relatedtraffic enforcement activities at thestate level will also be discussed at theconference.

MCSAP is a USDOT/FMCSA grantprogram that provides funding assistanceto states toward reducing the numberand severity of crashes and hazardousmaterials incidents involving large com-mercial trucks and buses. The overall goalis to reduce crashes, fatalities and injuriesthrough consistent, uniform and effectiveCMV safety programs.

FMCSA’s MCSAP partnerships existwith commercial vehicle agencies in all50 states, the District of Columbia, theCommonwealth of Puerto Rico, the fourU.S. territories, and many local govern-ment agencies.

Highlights of the 2010 confer-ence will include remarks by FMCSAAdministrator Anne Ferro as well aspresentations addressing regulatoryupdates, federal grants manage-ment and commercial vehicle safetyinitiatives.

The 2010 MCSAP LeadershipAwards, which recognize the extraor-dinary efforts of MCSAP state part-ners during the past year to improvethe quality and productivity of theirCMV enforcement programs, will alsobe announced.

A particular focus of this year’s con-ference will be on the national imple-mentation of the ComprehensiveSafety Analysis (CSA) 2010 initiative.The morning plenary session willinclude an overview of the CSA 2010operational model and plans for imple-mentation. The afternoon breakoutsessions will focus on CSA 2010deployment from a state perspective.

Further breakout sessions will coversuch topics as guidance for standardoperating procedures in responding toDataQs challenges, new State SafetyData Quality (SSDQ) measures, andmaximizing the use of MCSAP grantfunds. All MCSAP state lead agenciesare encouraged to attend FMCSA’s FifthAnnual MCSAP Leadership Conference.

contr ibuted in the preparat ion of a CMV Enforcement ResourceEvaluation Worksheet shown in thetable on page 16.

The worksheet can be used to helpdetermine the best use of personnel anddetermine the value of the PBBT as aninvestment at other inspection stations.The user can tailor the inspection period,average time and potential OOS rates totheir needs. The remaining fields will beupdated automatically by the worksheet.

Combining the PBBT test with theLevel II or Level III inspection appearsto provide the best inspection methodol-ogy when using a pit, based on theresults of this limited testing. Testingalso found that optimizing CMV con-tacts and OOS rate for a given time peri-od, while including a driver inspectioncomponent, will provide the optimumresults. For more information, [email protected] or call FMCSAtoll free 1-800-832-5660.


18

National Training Offers On-Site Expertise toFacilitate Delivery of Training ProgramsBy Joe DeLorenzo, FMCSA, Director, National Training Center


The National Training Center (NTC) continues its drive todeliver the best possible services. Our staffing strength hasincreased, our processes have been streamlined and our courseofferings continued to be augmented. We are committed toemploying the best educational technologies possible.

NTC now has the on-site expertise to facilitate the deliveryof training courses throughout the country. Our team includes:Instructional System Design (ISD) experts; a technicalwriter/editor; course specialists in the areas of Roadside,Investigations and Audits, and Hazardous Materials; a travelspecialist; an information technology specialist, and; administra-tive support personnel. We regularly draw upon the knowledge,skills and experience available to us from FMCSA managers andprogram officers in headquarters and from our CVSA partners.

Our goal is to continually improve our business process-es, products and services. We are regularly updating andimproving course content. We offer many services on-line,including a number of multimedia training modules. On topof that, we are also in the process of securing a state-of-the-art instructional facility located near our current location inArlington, VA.

Ultimately, we recognize that inspectors and investigators arethe front line in removing unsafe vehicles, drivers and carriersfrom the road and helping to protect the lives of every traveler.We are proud to be your partner.

Your feedback and ideas are very important to us. Feel freeto share them with us anytime by visiting our websitewww.fmcsa.dot.gov/ntc and clicking on the “Contact Us” tab.

Advanced North American Standard (NAS) Level I The National Training Center has been working with CVSA toreview the existing Advanced NAS Level I course. A professionalInstructional Systems Design (ISD) evaluation of the course foundit to be a refresher of the NAS Part A and Part B courses, rather than“Advanced.” After discussion with the CVSA Training Committee,it was decided that the course title and objectives would be modifiedto match the existing course materials. As of March 2010, statesinterested in submitting intake requests for Advanced NAS Level Iwill find it located in the course catalog as the “North AmericanStandard Level I Inspection Review Course.” The listing includesupdated course objectives. CVSA andNTC also agreed that optimal instructorpairings for the course utilize one Part Aand one Part B instructor, respectively.Future announcements for instruction ofthe “NAS Level I Inspection ReviewCourse” will be sent to Part A and Part Binstructors accordingly.

Streamlining the Future ofEvaluationsThis Spring, NTC will be working withthe state of Texas to test the feasibility ofoffering on-line course evaluations androsters for Safety Program classes. The

goal of the test is to assess the technology – its ease of use andaccuracy. If the tests go well, it may be offered nationwide by theend of 2010. We are also looking into the technologies’ capabil-ities to support long-term process changes such as e-testing andother functionalities. One of the outcomes of the test will be toestablish IT minimum requirements for states who may wish touse the electronic process should it become available.

AccreditationThe Safety Training Program is seeking accreditation from theCommission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies

(CALEA). The award of CALEAaccreditation provides assurance that weare in compliance with a set of standardscollectively established by our peers.

Compliance with the standards ensuresour training is developed, conducted andevaluated using a systematic process. Theresult is the development of training solu-tions closely linked to organizationalneeds and metrics tied to performanceobjectives.

Among the benefits of the process isa transition from a traditional classroomexperience toward, for example, solu-tions blending self-paced, online learn-

NTC News Briefs



19

“Commercial Skills Test InformationManagement System” Now AvailableBy Quon Kwan, FMCSA, General Engineer, Office of Analysis, Research and Technology

The Commercial Skills Test Information

Management System (CSTIMS) is now

available. Formally launched in January

2010, CSTIMS is a web-based system

that motor vehicle administrators may

use to manage the skills test portion of

their state’s commercial driver’s licens-

ing (CDL) process.

CSTIMS provides the ability to regis-

ter third party testers as well as jurisdic-

tion testers; record data for CDL skills

test examiners; schedule CDL skills

tests, and; record test results.

Based on parameters set up by the

individual jurisdiction, the system pre-

vents prohibited actions. It sends alerts

when discrepancies or inconsistencies

could indicate potential fraud. The sys-

tem strengthens the oversight of the CDL

licensing process by states and FMCSA.

Efficiencies in managing CDL skills testing

are increased; opportunities to submit

errors or commit fraud are decreased.

CSTIMS was prompted by a

USDOT Office of Inspector General

investigation into fraudulent CDLs.

FMCSA initiated the CSTIMS project by

partnering with the American

Associat ion of Motor Vehic le

Administrators (AAMVA).

Field tested for more than three

years, the web-based CSTIMS has been

continually refined and improved.

Several of the pilot test states have

already adopted CSTIMS where it is

presently fully operational.

CSTIMS’s functionality and features

include:

• Single user login

• Streamline screen navigation

• Allow jurisdictions to specify over-

sight criteria and alerts

• Allows administrative management

privileges

• Repetitive test data entry can be

removed

• Fully incorporates the 2005 CDL test

scoring model

ing and problem-solving exercises supervised by instructors ina lab setting.

CALEA accreditation is an ongoing process of measuringour training against recognized standards of performance andquality. It is another example of the Safety Training Program’sdrive for excellence.

Update status: Compliance Review; New Entrant SafetyAudit; Enforcement Procedures; Roadside EnforcementAs part of the ongoing review and revision of the followingcourses – Compliance Review; New Entrant Safety Audit;Roadside Enforcement and Enforcement Procedures – NTChas completed the front-end analysis and has moved into thecontent analysis and design phase of the project. During thepast few months, NTC has hosted meetings of federal and statesubject matter experts to define and document all requiredtraining tasks for each of the impacted courses. In addition, weare planning to employ technology at the most appropriate levelpossible within those defined requirements. We are looking for-ward to providing these training modules later this year.

CSA 2010 Training – Who, What and When?As the operational model testing for CSA 2010 winds down andFMCSA begins gearing-up to implement the new programnationwide, training for federal and state investigators and man-agers will be a top priority. All federal and state investigators andmanagers responsible for carrying out the commercial motorvehicle investigation program will receive thorough training.

NTC and the CSA training team are currently finalizing therollout plan and resource materials for CSA 2010 SafetyInvestigator; Intervention Manager; and Instructor training.Training is anticipated to commence in autumn 2010. TheCSA 2010 training module will comprise a mix of webinars,computer-based training, and instructor-led classroom training.

There are several key milestones that coincide with theCSA 2010 training, including completion of IT modification,IT deployment and instructor development training. This sys-tematic approach will ensure that federal and state personnelare well trained and sufficiently equipped to answer stake-holders’ questions and to effectively and efficiently conductCSA 2010 interventions.

For more information, including how to participate in CSTIMS, contact [email protected] or call FMCSA toll free 1-800-832-5660.


20


FHWA Provides Technical Guidance to SupportStates’ Use of Virtual Weigh Stations toAugment Roadside Enforcement By Tom Kearney, FHWA, Manager, Freight Operations and Cathy Krupa, Principal, Cambridge Systematics, Inc.

As the nation’s commercial motor vehicle(CMV) inspection resources continue tobe stretched thin by increasing traffic vol-umes, staffing cuts, and expandingresponsibilities, states are seeking newand improved ways to monitor andenforce truck size and weight regulations.These enforcement programs are integralto ensuring the service life of our road-ways and are required for the receipt offederal funds for the National HighwaySystem. Many states are electing to usevirtual weigh stations (VWS) to addressthese concerns. These stations offer statesthe ability to monitor a CMV’s compli-ance with size, weight, and safety regula-tions at less capital and operational costthan fixed weigh stations. Of equal orgreater value, VWS can be deployed onroutes not currently covered by fixedinspections stations significantly expand-ing coverage to those routes that are usedto bypass existing fixed facilities. Due to

their much smaller physical footprint,they can be deployed in heavily populat-ed urban or geographically remote loca-tions where it may be difficult to deployenforcement personnel or build andmaintain fixed facilities. Coverage in anurban environment enables state authori-ties to monitor short wheel base servicevehicles (dump trucks, concrete mixers,garbage trucks, etc.) that do not routine-ly operate on roadways with fixed weighstations and yet present significantweight concerns on roads and bridges.VWS sites produce a steady stream ofvaluable data that can support a state’stargeting of enforcement resources byidentifying roadways where overweighttrucks are known or are suspected tooperate frequently, and they also provideinvaluable information to planners onfreight movement.

In order to provide technical guidanceto jurisdictions regarding their implemen-

tation of the VWS concept, the FederalHighway Administration (FHWA),Office of Freight Management andOperations, sponsored the development ofa concept of operations (ConOps) forVWS. The ConOps describes the goals,functions, key concepts, architecture, oper-ational scenarios, operational policies, andimpacts of VWS. The document isdesigned to serve as a tool that can be usedby states to support their development ofroadside enforcement strategies, and VWSfunding requests. The ConOps also isdesigned to help states obtain buy-in forthe VWS concept from public and privatesector stakeholders. The ConOps wasprepared for FHWA by CambridgeSystematics, Inc. in June 2009.

As described in the ConOps, theVWS concept is very flexible. Whilethere is a minimum threshold of func-tionality/technology that must bedeployed in association with a VWS,States can customize their VWS deploy-ments to meet their specific functionalneeds (e.g., focus exclusively on trucksize and weight issues, expand focus toinclude safety and credentialing regula-tions), operational environment (e.g.,typical weather conditions, physicalspace, terrain), and communicationinfrastructure (e.g., presence of commu-nication infrastructure at site, presence ofpower at site).

In a basic VWS operation, a movingCMV is weighed on weigh-in-motion(WIM) scales or sensors, while the vehi-cle is identified, most commonly today bydigital image capture. Screening softwareintegrates data from the WIM and cam-era system, which are accessed by a mobileenforcement officer positioned down-stream from the VWS or enforcementpersonnel at a nearby fixed site who make

Representative Virtual Weigh Station Deployment. Source: “An Intelligent CVO Freight Compliance System

In a Port Application,” presented at 2008 Smart Roadside Workshop, Jacksonville, FL, April 30, 2008.

1

2

4

5

3

6

7

8

KEY1. Weather Station2. DOT Number Camera3. Security Camera4. Low Resolution Camera5. Container Camera6. WIM Instrumentation Cabinet7. WIM Scale8. Variable Message Sign



21

a screening decision on whether or not tointercept the vehicle for weighing/inspec-tion. Some states also are consideringusing data from their VWS deploymentsto target motor carriers for other types ofinterventions, such as compliance reviews,warning letters, or weight audits; so thattheir VWS deployments continue to sup-port enforcement operations even whenroadside enforcement personnel are notdeployed at a VWS site.

A VWS with expanded functionalityincludes all of the basic VWS function-ality and augments it with additionalroadside dimensional sensors, a morerobust screening algorithm that maydraw on data from other informationsystems, and an improved screening sys-tem that graphically presents the sys-tem’s recommended screening decisionto enforcement users. Common enhance-ments include a license plate reader(LPR) and/or U.S. DOT number read-er, which use specialized software togenerate an electronic value of the vehi-cle’s license plate or U.S. DOT number,respectively; and a Commercial VehicleInformation Exchange Window (CVIEW)or an equivalent, which provides real-time access to the safety and credentialsinformation associated with the com-mercial vehicle and motor carrier iden-tified automatically by the LPR andU.S. DOT number reader, respectively.FHWA’s Freight Office is currentlysupporting research into available oremerging technologies that could serveas a “Universal Truck Identifier”; thecriteria for evaluating such an identifierare electronic devices able to uniquelyidentify every commercial vehicle sub-ject to verifications or measurementsrequired under Title 23 or Title 49 ofthe U.S. Code. This research work is

ongoing at this time.In addition to the enforcement tech-

nologies associated with a VWS, statesalso have elected to deploy other datagathering sensors (e.g., weather stations)at their VWS sites to support systemoperations. The photo on the left depictsa test VWS site in Jacksonville, FL thatillustrates a typical combination of tech-nologies associated with a VWS that hasexpanded functionality. This image alsoillustrates the small physical footprinttypically occupied by a VWS. The figurebelow illustrates the Expanded VWSConOps that is detailed in the recentFHWA report.

While no formal evaluation of VWShas been completed to date, preliminaryevaluation results from deployments ofsimilar roadside applications indicatethat a wide range of benefits likely willaccrue to public and private sector stake-holders. These benefits include the

potential to subject all commercial vehi-cles to electronic screening, improvedoperational efficiency for enforcementpersonnel, more frequent verification ofcommercial vehicle regulatory compli-ance, improved mobility for compliantmotor carriers, and greater geographicenforcement coverage from limitedfinancial resources.

In support of the ConOps, CambridgeSystematics and FHWA also recentlydeveloped a State of the Practice forRoadside Enforcement Technologies, aswell as an Implementation Plan forRoadside Enforcement Technologies. Allof these documents may be downloadedfrom the FHWA Office of FreightManagement and Operations publicationswebsite: www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publica-tions/publications.htm#ift. For more infor-mation on VWS or the use of technologyto improve size and weight enforcement,contact [email protected].

Expanded VWS Concept of Operations. Source: Concept of Operations for Virtual Weigh Station,

Cambridge Systematics for the Federal Highway Administration, June 2009.


22


PHMSA Announces Enhancements to the HazMatSpecial Permits and Approvals Program

The Federal hazardous materials (Haz-Mat) transportation safety program beganmore than 100 years ago when Congresscharged the federal government withreducing the dangers associated with thetransport of explosives and otherHazMat. The U.S. Department ofTransportation’s (DOT) program hasevolved into a broad and comprehensivesafety, security, training, and outreach pro-gram encompassing the transport of awide variety of materials essential to oureconomy and way of life. From medicines,household cleaners, fuel, and batteries toradioactive, toxic, and explosive materials,more than 1.2 million daily shipments ofHazMat—ounces to thousands of gal-lons—move daily via truck/tanker, rail,air, or vessel, throughout interstate andacross international boundaries.

The Hazardous Materials Regulations(HMR) ensure HazMat is transportedsafely and securely. On occasion, however,it may not be practical for government orindustry to comply with specific require-ments of the HMR, such as when militaryoperations arise; natural disasters occur; ifnew and innovative technologies have notbeen addressed; or alternative methods areneeded to safely and efficiently transporthazardous materials in commerce. ThePipeline and Hazardous Materials SafetyAdministration (PHMSA) SpecialPermits and Approvals Program was devel-oped to address these unexpected situa-tions to afford a means for preventing theunnecessary delay of shipments that mayotherwise be detrimental to the safety andthe vitality of our nation and its people. Inthese instances, applicants would apply forspecial permits or approvals. PHMSA hasthe primary responsibility for the issuanceof DOT special permits and approvals tothe HMR.

“We at PHMSA hold the public trustto protect human life and the environ-ment from accidents and incidents thatmay occur during the commercial trans-port of energy and hazardous materialsacross this great nation,” said PHMSAAdministrator Cynthia Quarterman.“The loss of even one life due to inatten-tion on our part as regulators andenforcers of the established hazardous

materials regulations will have been onelife too many. With this in mind, ourevaluation of risk and the safety fitness ofapplicants will always be essential con-siderations when authorizing special per-mits and approvals.”

Approvals are essential for authoriz-ing transport of newly developed explo-sives for the Departments of Defenseand Energy, as well as allowing for theoversight needed to ensure the safe man-ufacture and transport of fireworks,many of which are manufactured outsideof the U.S., in places where safety over-sight may not be equivalent to thatafforded in the U.S.

PHMSA has initiated procedures tostreamline and improve the internalprocess to evaluate risk, ensure anequivalent level of safety to that afford-ed by the HMR, assure the safety fit-ness of applicants, and improve trans-

parency of the program. PHMSA’sgoals include the:

• Enhancement of safety oversight ofthe Special Permits and ApprovalsProgram;

• Improvement of operational efficien-cy within the PHMSA; and,

• Improvement of coordinationbetween PHMSA and its modalpartners.

• Improvement of data collection andanalysis

An applicant must demonstrate that aspecial permit achieves a level of safety atleast equal to that required by regulationor, if in the rare cases that the requiredsafety level cannot be fully established,that the special permit is consistent withthe public interest. At a minimum, theapplication must include information onshipping and incident history, and experi-ence relating to the application; identifi-cation of increased risks to safety or prop-erty that may result if the special permitis granted, and a description of measuresthat will be taken to mitigate that risk;and analyses, data, or test results demon-strating that the level of safety expectedunder the special permit is equal to thelevel of safety achieved by the regulationfrom which the applicant seeks relief.

PHMSA independently verifies and

“We at PHMSA hold the public trust to protect human life and the environment from accidents and incidents

that may occur during the commercial transport of energy and hazardous materials across this great nation.”

— PHMSA Administrator Cynthia Quarterman



23

evaluates the information provided in thespecial permit application to determinethat the special permit will achieve anequal level of safety as provided by theHMR or, if not, that the special permit isconsistent with the public interest. Thisreview includes a technical analysis of thealternative proposed in the application,an evaluation of the past compliance his-tory of the applicant (including incidenthistory, enforcement actions, and thelike), and coordination with FMCSA,Federal Railroad Administration (FRA),Federal Aviation Administration (FAA),and/or the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) togather additional information relevant tothe application and ensure the agencies’concurrence with PHMSA’s conclusions.

Before making a decision on a specialpermit PHMSA publishes a notice of theapplication in the Federal Register andasks for comments from the public as towhether it should be granted or denied.Comments are considered as part of theprocess and may provide useful data andinformation that would help to ensurethat the proposed operations are con-ducted safely. PHMSA’s Associate

Administrator for Hazardous MaterialsSafety may approve or deny an applica-tion, in whole or in part, based on a deter-mination by PHMSA, its modal part-ners, and public comments received, andcould impose additional provisions basedon review of supporting documentation.A summary of the special permits andapprovals granted are posted in theFederal Register and on the PHMSAwebsite, www.phmsa.dot.gov.

Review Applicant FitnessAn applicant fitness review will determinewhether an applicant is “fit to conduct theactivity authorized by the special permit.”At the beginning of the application evalu-ation phase, PHMSA performs an InitialFitness Evaluation/Review. This initialreview involves accessing the HazMatIntelligence Portal and the Safety andFitness Electronic Records System(SAFER) to review applicant safetyrecords and determine whether theAdvanced Fitness Evaluation/Review isneeded. During the initial fitness review,PHMSA analyzes an applicant’s specialpermit request, safety history, and compli-

ance record. If an applicant is determinedfit based on the criteria outlined in theInitial Fitness Evaluation/Review,PHMSA proceeds with the equivalentlevel-of-safety evaluation. If the appli-cant’s safety and compliance record indi-cates a potential safety fitness problem, anAdvanced Fitness Evaluation/Review isinitiated. However, because the AdvancedFitness Evaluation/Review may belengthy, PHMSA may initiate the equiva-lent level-of-safety evaluation to deter-mine whether the special permit applica-tion would be recommended for approval.If the application fails to demonstrate anequivalent level of safety during the evalu-ation, then the special permit can bedenied prior to the completion of theAdvanced Fitness Evaluation/Review.

Compliance of Special Permits andApprovals DOT investigators from PHMSA, theFAA, FMCSA, FRA, and the USCGroutinely conduct safety inspections toensure that companies comply with theterms of special permits and approvals.Based on findings, modifications can

SIMILARITIES/DIFFERENCES

Both Special Permits and Approvals:

• are an extension to the Hazardous

Materials Regulations

• cover a broad set of circumstances

• require a level of safety that is equal to

or greater than the present regulations

consistent with public interest, and

• require cost and safety justifications,

and supporting information, to assist

PHMSA and its modal partners to

ensure that the applicant is fit to per-

form the functions prescribed

Special Permits

• can be shared with other approved

entities, i.e., “party-to status,” provid-

ing the parties are determined to be

equally fit

• are terminated according to specified

terms or 24 months from the date of

issue,

• may be extended through a process

of reapplication, and

• only apply domestically

Approvals

• cannot be shared with other entities

• have expiration dates depending on

the approval issued, and

• may be applicable domestically and

internationally


24

be made that will enhance transporta-tion safety. Conversely, if performanceof the new technology does not meetexpectations, the grantee is found to beunfit to perform the specified func-tions safely, or if the holder fails tomeet required conditions, a specialpermit or approval may be suspendedor terminated. These processes allownew technologies to be safely imple-mented under controlled circum-stances and in a manner that affordsappropriate oversight prior to fullyimplementing them within the regula-tions, and provides greater benefit andflexibility compared to lengthy regula-tory amendment processes.

PHMSA also processes EmergencySpecial Permits and Approvals to aidand provide relief during special circum-stances such as natural disasters or anti-terrorism and military operations.Emergency processing only applieswhen necessary to prevent significantinjury to persons or property not pre-ventable under normal processing, forimmediate national security, or to pre-vent significant economic disruption.These must meet specific criteria andtheir justifications must be well docu-mented and describe impact if notgranted. For example, PHMSA grantedEmergency Special Permits to providegenerators, much-needed fuels, andcleanup and removal of HazMatreleased in New Orleans, and surround-ing states, following the devastatingeffects of Hurricane Katrina.

Through PHMSA’s InformationTechnology Modernization efforts,CVSA and state enforcement partnerswill benefit through online search tools toquickly view special permits andapprovals to verify expiration dates,

requirements, etc. The search tools areavailable on the following link:http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/hazmat/regs/sp-a, then choose either special permitsor approvals search. The HIP is anotherweb-based resource under developmentand will be available to enforcement per-sonnel to review information on compa-nies involved in the HazMat industry.These efforts will be in addition to theSAFER capability that is a FMCSAweb-based system that offers companysafety data to government and industryprofessionals, as well as the public. Userscan search FMCSA databases, registerfor a U.S. DOT number, pay fines online,order company safety profiles, challengeFMCSA data using the DataQs system,access the Hazardous Material Routeregistry, obtain national crash and out-of-service rates for HazMat permit registra-tions, get printable registration forms,and find information about otherFMCSA Information Systems.

More detailed information aboutPHMSA’s Special Permits and ApprovalsAction Plans, Standard OperatingProcedures, Safety Evaluation, andFrequently Asked Questions can beobtained online: www.phmsa.dot.gov/hazmat/regs/sp-a .

PHMSA would appreciate commentsand feedback to help improve the programand to develop and enhance tools to sup-port our compliance partners. If you havecomments or questions involving specialpermits or approvals, please send them to:The Office of Hazardous MaterialsSpecial Permits and Approvals: [email protected] or [email protected],Telephone: (202) 366-4511 or Fax: (202)366-3308; Hazardous MaterialsInformation Center (800) HMR-4922 or(800) 467-4922.



Guardian

25

Improperly inflated tires can producesignificant safety hazards for all vehicles– especially so for large commercialtrucks and buses. Poorly monitored airpressure in tires accelerates wear andleads to compromised braking, reducedhandling and stability, and an increasedlikelihood of catastrophic tire failure intraffic conditions. Carriers are guaran-teed to experience an increase in fuelcosts and possibly an occasional expen-sive roadside repair bill for deflated tires.

Despite these well-understood conse-quences, research has shown that manycarriers do not practice or enforce ade-quate tire maintenance practices. This isbecause checking and maintaining prop-er inflation is time-consuming andinconvenient. As a result, potentiallydangerous commercial vehicles travel onour roads every day.

Since 2003, the U.S. DOT has sup-ported various research projects focusedon tire pressure monitoring and mainte-nance systems – or TPMS – for commer-cial vehicles. TPMS devices are used toalert a driver or maintenance personnelwhen a tire is improperly inflated. Somesystems can even be connected to an aircompressor in the vehicle and will inflatetires automatically when they fall below acertain pressure threshold. They providea means for greatly simplifying the task ofchecking and maintaining tire pressure.

Presently, there is significant productdiversity in the marketplace in terms ofdesign and durability. The performance,accuracy and overall adequacy of thesesystems have not been well-documentedin a controlled and systematic fashion.This, in part, explains why roughly justfive percent of the current commercialvehicle population uses some form ofthis technology.

The U.S. DOT research to date hasfocused on the impact of tire maintenancepractices to safety and upon operatingcosts of commercial vehicles and howTPMS can contribute improvements.The various systems have been evaluatedboth on a closed course test track and ontransit buses in revenue service.

The current phase in this researchfocuses on the design and conduct of alarge scale field operational test involvingtwo heavy truck fleets. The purpose ofthe field operational test is to determinewhether TPMS: 1) will increase the lifeof tires; 2) will reduce fuel consumption;3) will reduce road calls for damaged/flattires; 4) accurately displays the tire pres-sure; and, 5) will not introduce unsched-uled maintenance that will affect theday-to-day fleet operations.

Three systems have been selected for thefield test:• Inflation System – Meritor Tire

Inflation System (MTIS) by PressureSystems International maintains a pre-set tire pressure at each of the tire loca-tions. Due to technological limitations,this system only maintains tire pressureon trailer tires. An indicator lamp islocated in the cab or on the trailer thatindicates when the system is activated.

• Valve-Mounted Monitoring System– The Integrated Vehicle TireMonitoring System (IVTM) byWabco Automotive is an externally-mounted tire system. It is mountedon the valve and is capable of moni-toring both the tractor and trailer tirepressures. There is a system display isin the cab.

• Wheel-Mounted Monitoring System– The Tire-SafeGuard sensor by HCICorporation is strapped onto the wheelrim and monitors both the tractor andtrailer tires. There is a system display inthe cab.

The test will operate for a period ofone year after the installation of thesystems on each of the truck fleets.The first fleet is a dedicated transportfor Sheetz and operates more than 20tractor-tanker vehicles out of a termi-nal in Altoona, PA. The second fleet isGordon Food Service, which operates130 tractors and 263 refrigerated puptrailers out of a terminal in GrandRapids, MI. Overall, 40 tractors and70 trailers will be equipped with thetire pressure monitoring systems.

The results of the field operationaltest, coupled with past research, will bepublicly announced in late 2010.Through this research, carriers will havea clearer idea of their precise return-on-investment that is potentially offered byeach these systems. With this demon-strable cost-benefit, deployment of thistechnology should expand, which willfurther drive down costs while improvingsafety on the highways and roads foreveryone. For more information, [email protected] or call FMCSAtoll free 1-800-832-5660.

Tire Pressure Monitoring, Maintenance SystemsResearch Provide Cost and Benefit to CarriersBy Chris Flanigan, FMCSA, General Engineer, Office of Analysis, Research and Technology


Despite these well-understoodconsequences, research

has shown that many carriersdo not practice

or enforce adequate tiremaintenance practices.


26


As members of CVSA, we are all aware ofthe critical role of roadside data and itsimportance to member jurisdictions,FMCSA, industry and many other stake-holders. Data collected at the roadside notonly serves as the foundation for trafficsafety initiatives, it is also used to helpdetermine the most effective allocation ofcommercial vehicle enforcement resources.

As a testament to its value, FMCSA ismaking roadside data the foundation ofComprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA)2010 and a part of the calculation of acarrier’s safety fitness rating in theplanned Safety Fitness Determinationrule. Knowing all that is at stake, andaffirming that our current roadside data isfundamentally sound, valid and usable,there still exists room for improvement.To accomplish this, FMCSA, CVSA andmember jurisdictions have worked col-laboratively on improving data whileincreasing awareness of the need for bet-ter information.

In the fall of 2008, CVSA data uni-formity ad-hoc committee was formed.Its mission has been to develop strategiesto improve data uniformity and consis-tency. The committee initially identifiedthe following focuses:

• Identify shortcomings in the collec-tion and documentation of roadsideinspection and enforcement data;

• Develop and promote solutions thatimprove the uniformity, reciprocity,accuracy and timeliness of roadsidedata;

• Develop suggested standardizedprocesses for handling challenges toroadside inspection and enforcementdata;

• Improve awareness and understand-ing of the need for consistent driv-er/vehicle inspections and inspectionselection policies; and,

• Examine possible metrics for meas-uring data quality.

From these focuses, four core compo-nents of roadside data uniformity havebeen developed:1. Consistent documentation of road-

side inspection and violation data;2. Standardized processes for challeng-

ing data;3. Increased awareness of high level

goals of the inspection program:a) Good inspections can support sys-

tematic enforcement programs;b) Screening vs. Inspection; and,

4. Uniform inspection selectionprocesses.

The following is an update on what hasbeen accomplished to date.• Consistent documentation of road-

side inspection and violation data.Through a FMCSA-funded high-priority grant, awarded in the springof 2009, CVSA staff and subject mat-ter experts from the various commit-tees began work on guidance thatpromotes the consistent documenta-tion of roadside inspection and viola-tion data. This group met severaltimes in the summer of 2009 andrecently held its final meeting inJanuary 2010. The effort was led byCollin Mooney, CVSA’s Director ofEnforcement Programs.

FMCSA received the violationpick list in early March. At this meet-ing, CVSA asked FMCSA to imple-ment these pick lists into ASPEN foruse by the roadside inspector.FMCSA was also asked to use themas operational guidance for hardcoded violations to promote the con-sistent documentation of roadsideviolations across jurisdictional lines.

Roadside Data: The Foundation of CSA 2010By Capt. Mark Savage, Colorado State Patrol


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At the same time, the committeehas asked that FMCSA implementconcurrent software design changesto support the violation pick lists.With the continued support ofFMCSA, we look forward to nextsteps for this project.

• Standardized processes for challeng-ing data. This initiative will provideprocedural guidance on the manage-ment of the roadside data challengeprocess through the DataQ’s manage-ment system. FMCSA and severalstate partner subject matter expertsformed a group in the spring of 2009to develop standardized procedures forthe data challenge process. A sub-committee of this group is also review-ing carriers’ due process rights as theyprogress through the appeals process.

The goal of this initiative is toenhance the data challenge process byproviding consistency and transparen-cy for our stakeholders. The group iscurrently reviewing a draft version ofthe recommended guidance and planto release a final work product to allstakeholders in the near future.

• Increased awareness of high levelgoals of the inspection program.

This component of the roadside datauniformity initiative will ensure thatthe processes that are used in thecollection of the roadside data arevalidated and promote the integrityof the programs that rely upon thedata. This educationally based ini-tiative will be targeted to all stake-holders – from roadside inspectors tocarriers and drivers. It will includespecific training modules. Outreachmaterials will explain the importanceof the roadside data and detail how itwill be used.

The overall goal is to broaden theunderstanding that every inspectioncounts and that there is a direct rela-tion between the collection of thedata and its end use. This outreacheffort will be rolled-out in conjunc-tion with the ramp-up to the launchof CSA 2010.

• Uniform inspection selection process-es. CVSA encourages member juris-dictions to review and formalize theircurrent policies that govern when andhow vehicles should be selected for aninspection. The goal is to raise aware-ness of the safety critical role that comeswith implementing a valid and consis-

tent vehicle and driver inspection selec-tion process.

An issue request to revise CVSAOperational Policy No. Five will be sub-mitted at the spring conference. Furtherinformation on this proposed revisionwill be available at the spring meeting ofthe Program Initiatives Committee.

In the past year, CVSA membershave shown great dedication to enhanc-ing the collection of roadside enforce-ment data. Our work has taught us thatcurrent data collection processes aresound and our goals are realistic andobtainable. Moving forward, we willcontinue to look for ways to improve andrefine these critical data enhancementefforts so that CVSA member jurisdic-tions, FMCSA and all other stakehold-ers have continued faith in the validityand consistency of the data we all use ona daily basis.

Most importantly, of course, withever continuing improvements in theconsistency and quality of roadside data,poor performing carriers and drivers willbe identified and be required to improve.This means fewer crashes, fewer injuriesand more lives saved.


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CVSA released the 2010 NorthAmerican Standard Out-of-ServiceCriteria (OOSC), providing lawenforcement and the motor carri-er industry with a valuable tooldesigned to improve commercialmotor vehicle safety by promotinguniformity in compliance andenforcement throughout NorthAmerica.

CVSA has been maintain-ing, updating, and publishingthe OOSC annually for morethan twenty years whichbecomes effective throughoutNorth America every April 1st.The OOSC is used by highly-qualified, specially-trained andcertified state, provincial, terri-torial, and federal law enforce-ment personnel in identifyingCritical Vehicle InspectionItem violations following aroadside inspection that can prohibit amotor carrier or operator from drivingor operating a commercial motorvehicle for a specified period of timeor until the defective condition is cor-rected. Approximately four-millioncommercial vehicle roadside inspec-tions are conducted annually acrossNorth America by governmentenforcement agencies. Issued uponthe completion of a Level I or Vinspection, CVSA decals are onlyapplied to commercial motor vehicleswith no violations of the CriticalVehicle Inspection Items contained inthe OOSC. The OOSC is a compo-nent of the North American StandardInspection Program, and is developedthrough a collaborative process thatincludes government and industryexperts and which is focused on the

issues most critical to maintaining thesafe operations of commercial vehicleson our roadways.

“It is in the best interests of everydriver and motor carrier to be familiarwith the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria,” said Stephen A.Keppler, CVSA’s Interim ExecutiveDirector. “Knowing which commercialmotor vehicle violations have been iden-tified as being the most serious is helpfulbecause it provides necessary focus inproperly maintaining vehicles and itsaves lives. It also helps prevent unneces-sary delays and down time in transit as aresult of having a driver or vehicle placedout-of-service.”

Roadside inspection results are usedin part to identify motor carriers thatpresent a high degree of risk to themotoring public. As a result, the data

collected helps in determiningwhich transportation companieswill be selected for review underFMCSA’s new ComprehensiveSafety Analysis (CSA 2010) ini-tiative. “With full implementa-tion of CSA 2010 activities onthe horizon, such as the newCarrier Safety MeasurementSystem, knowing the ‘Criteria’ inadvance can assist a motor carri-er ensure the accuracy of theroadside inspection data collect-ed and contained within a motorcarrier’s safety profile.” saidLarry G. Woolum, RegulatoryAffairs Director of the OhioTrucking Association and Chairof CVSA’s Associate AdvisoryCommittee.

“The information collectedduring a roadside inspection pro-vides the foundation for data-

driven traffic safety initiatives. As aresult, the importance of this issue can-not be understated, as it has strongimplications to not only CSA 2010 butall of our traffic safety programs,” saidBuzzy France, CVSA’s President.“Commercial motor vehicle safety con-tinues to be a challenge and we need theinvolvement of all affected parties tohelp us better understand these issuesand put into place practical solutions.As commercial vehicle inspectors, ourcontinued diligence will help us reachour ultimate goal of saving lives.”

For more information on the NorthAmerican Standard Inspection Program,or on how to obtain the NorthAmerican Standard Out-of-ServiceCriteria, visit www.cvsa.org. For moreinformation on CSA 2010, visithttp://csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov/.

CVSA Releases 2010 North American StandardOut-of-Service CriteriaPublication Outlines Benefits to Carriers, Commercial Vehicle Safety Overall


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CVSA’s Cooperative Hazardous Materials EnforcementDevelopment (COHMED) Program held their annual confer-ence January 24-28, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency River Walk inSan Antonio, TX. COHMED is an outreach activity of CVSAwhich works to foster coordination, cooperation, and communi-cation between federal, state and local agencies having regulato-ry and enforcement responsibility for the safe transportation ofhazardous materials and the industry that they regulate.

The five-day conference included training sessions on inspec-tions of bulk packages: MC338 and cryogenics, the preemptiondetermination process, a live presentation of the capabilities ofthe HazMat intelligence portal, an in-depth look at the U.S.Coast Guard’s Cargo Inspection Team, with a focus on howroadside inspectors can support its activities and many others.

In addition, regulatory updates were provided by the FMCSAAssociate Administrator, Office of Enforcement and Compliance,William Quade; Pipeline and Hazardous Materials SafetyAdministration Acting Deputy Administrator Cynthia Douglass;Transportation Security Administration General Manager,TSNM/Highway and Motor Carrier Division, William “Bill”Arrington; Federal Aviation Administration Director, Office ofHazardous Materials Christopher J. Bonanti; and TransportCanada’s Donna McLean.

The conference’s keynote speaker, Randy Speight, ManagingDirector, and CHEMTREC® discussed some of the emergencyresponse challenges related to the import of hazardous materi-als with foreign shipment origins and what CHEMTREC® isdoing to address those challenges.

CVSA Offers Training, Insights Into HazMatTransportation Issues at COHMED ConferenceCooperative HazMat Enforcement Development Program EducatesEnforcement Community

Operation Safe Driver 2010 RampsUp to Focus on Educating Teens &Trucks, Dangers of Distracted Driving

Each year more than 40,000 people die on the roadwaysthroughout North America – many of which are the directresult of unsafe and aggressive driving practices by both pas-senger and commercial vehicle drivers. Each year in October,law enforcement across North America respond by activelytargeting these drivers during a campaign dubbed ‘OperationSafe Driver.’ This year, CVSA is gearing up for the 2010campaign by meeting with current partners FMCSA,NHTSA, ATA, NDAA, GHSA, AASHTO and UMA aswell as reaching out to potential partners to help us extendthe reach of the campaign. Updates on the campaign will bepresented during CVSA’s Workshop. Working with theArizona Trucking Association, the Arizona Department ofPublic Safety, and ATA we have developed educationaloutreach materials for young drivers called the Teens &Trucks program. In addition, a new component is beingdeveloped under this year’s program to address distracteddriving for CMV drivers. States and jurisdictions interest-ed in materials can visit www.cvsa.org’s Operation SafeDriver page or contact CVSA at 202-775-1623.


How Intelligent Transportation Systems and TInspections By Cpl. Rick Koontz, Pennsylvania State Police, CVSA Chair, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)and Maj. Ron Cordova, New Mexico Department of Public Safety, CVSA Vice Chair, ITS Committee

www.cvsa.org

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Since Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technolo-gies were first introduced in the early 1990s, doors havebeen continuously opening to new methods in improving

efficiency for commercial vehicle roadside inspectors and tech-nologies will continue to evolve and change the way we do ourjob. As part of our mission, CVSA’s ITS Committee works toassess these technologies to ensure they are both sound andmake economical sense. During our work sessions we stressconsistency and uniformity in technology standards, identifyand communicate needs and requirements for commercial vehi-cle safety related technologies, and enhance information tech-nologies information distribution and access mechanisms.

Roadside inspectors will soon see, and many jurisdictions arealready working with, a growing number of truck electronics incombination with emerging wireless communication technology.Programs like PrePass, Norpass and Green Light are helpingmake information available to inspectors, such as a credentialIRP or IFTA check, a carrier safety rating check and a few otherthings required by individual states, to virtual weigh stationsallowing us to conduct more targeted inspections. Some states,like Florida and Kentucky, are leading the way and have systemsin place that can send and receive certain information at lowspeeds through the use of radio frequency identification (RFID)technology. By using RFID with license plate readers, DOTreaders, infrared scanners, they create a ‘virtual weigh station.’This is not the future anymore… this is happening today.

And as technology is changing so too will inspectors findwhat they do will evolve as well. They are going to have a lotmore real-time information at their fingertips. Not only are wegoing to have more information about the truck, bus and driverthat’s in front of us, but we will also be able to spot trends intrucking companies and fleets much easier. It will take someadjustment at first, and the learning curve will be steep, buteventually we believe it’s going to make the job of identifyinghigh-risk carriers and drivers faster and easier. We all know thatthe number of commercial trucks and buses traveling roadwayswill continue to increase and outpace our ability especially giventhe fact that the number of enforcement officials is likely tostagnate or shrink due to budget shortfalls.

Information is Now One Password Away: One-StopShops and Electronic PortalsOne of the things that has been a big help in the U.S., softwarewise, is having access to a web portal that provides a consistent

look and feel across multiple applications for back office users,enforcement, and motor carriers. This portal provides users withsingle sign on access which allows them to log in to the portalusing a username and password and then be directed to specificcredentialing applications without having to log in over and over.Prior to this, when accessing most other web applications theinspector needed to enter their user name and a password.Having to enter all these usernames and passwords can be timeconsuming and tedious – but this new system requires only a sin-gle sign on. This is really where FMCSA is headed in the future.Whether the roadside inspector is doing a new entrant audit orcompliance review, it’s all going to be done in this mobile clientand updated at once. With regard to the FMCSA portal, a road-side inspector is going to be able to go to one website then haveaccess to all these ASPEN, Query Central. The challenge in thefield is that roadside inspectors will need to have access to theinternet — and you can’t get it everywhere. FMCSA is trying tohelp through programs such as PRISM which helps funddepartments in getting wireless aircards.

Integrating a number of technologies that convey informa-

COVER STORY


d Technologies are Transforming Roadside

tion on a vehicle and driver to a roadside electronic devicedesigned to monitor CMVs has the potential to revolutionizeCMV safety and security operations across the continent andhave added benefits to industry as well.

Electronic/Universal ID and Electronic ScreeningFor a growing number of enforcement operations throughoutNorth America (both fixed and mobile), it is physically impos-sible to inspect every truck that approaches the enforcementsite. Identifying commercial vehicles at the roadside is for thefirst time, feasible using automated systems, without the needfor a human observer to read the identifiers. These automatedsystems offer the promise of high-speed, efficient screening ofall commercial vehicles, resulting in enforcement resourcesbeing focused on the high-risk carriers and vehicles. TheCommercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks(CVISN) Program has helped provide the impetus and stimu-lus for many of these technology deployments. Many states arenow deploying some sort of electronic screening technology,and many of these systems have been in place for more than

ten years. However, participation in these electronic screeningprograms has been voluntary, and only about 15 percent (orless) of all trucks in the U.S. are participating. Thus, the vastmajority of commercial motor vehicles on our highwaysremain electronically unidentified.

A number of ITS-related initiatives at the federal and statelevels have been exploring various technologies for identifyingcommercial motor vehicles (and their employing motor carriers)at the roadside to help enable more efficient and effective enforce-ment operations. Dedicated Short Range Communications(DSRC) technology (i.e. transponders), license plate readers, U.S.DOT Number Readers, and other optical character recognition(OCR) and imaging technologies have been deployed in supportof various applications to enhance the safe and efficient move-ment of freight. Much has been learned from these deployments.DSRC technology has proven to be effective and reliable. OCRtechnologies, while providing some value, are hampered by theinherent difficulty in trying to read identifiers that were notdesigned to be read electronically.

Technologies exist today that would allow automated road-side identification of all commercial motor vehicles. These tech-nologies are accurate, reliable, and inexpensive. If they were uni-versally deployed, they would revolutionize the way roadsidemonitoring and enforcement are conducted. They would raisethe effectiveness of enforcement programs while reducing theircost. They would improve roadway safety, protect the highwayinfrastructure, maintain road fund revenue, and create a morelevel playing field for the motor carrier industry. This is a truewin-win scenario, and the time is right to see it achieved. It istime to augment the old, manual identifiers on trucks (e.g.,metal license plates and numbers painted on doors) with newidentifiers that are compatible with modern technologies. It istime for all commercial motor vehicles to be identifiable at theroadside using automated technologies. The ITS Committee isworking on this issue with all parties at the table and providinginput.

The Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) initiative, nowknown as IntelliDrive, is being led by the U.S. DOT is in theprocess of exploring a much more ambitious plan to deploy anationwide network of technologies to “connect” vehicles withthe infrastructure on which they are operating. To date, thecommercial vehicle component of VII (CVII) has not seen asignificant amount of investment either in or outside govern-ment. However, there is a significant amount of work occur-

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An inspector viewing monitors as one truck comes through the IF and another by-passes (electronic bypass).


ring in pockets on a smaller scale across the country, as a num-ber of CVII technology demonstration projects have been orare in the process of being deployed. The CVII initiative andlike initiatives such as the Wireless Roadside Inspection andSmart Roadside Programs represent the long-term destinationof roadside compliance and enforcement programs, whereeach commercial vehicle will be equipped with a suite ofonboard technologies, and where the wireless “inspection” willbecome a reality. While we continue to pursue that long-termgoal, it is possible to achieve substantial gains in the near termby providing a simple, low-cost, electronic identifier on eachcommercial motor vehicle. (See related article on page 34 byFMCSA’s Jonathan Mueller).

Having CMVs identified out on the road at highway speedsprovides opportunities to improve both efficiency and effective-ness for enforcement while at the same time allowing commerceto move more efficiently as well.

FHWA has a research project under way that is looking atthe feasibility of creating a universal electronic ID that covers allcommercial vehicles. Having Universal ID and the ability toconduct electronic screening allows for many benefits. (See Maj.Ron Cordova’s story on page 39 about the statewide SmartRoadside Program that New Mexico is deploying.)

There are many options to consider, including: a uniform,machine-readable license plate; a transponder (like NORPASS,PrePass, and E-ZPass); a more advanced transponder, integrat-ed with an onboard computer; a transponder built into thelicense plate; a transponder built into a windshield decal; andmany others.

Virtual Weigh Stations (VWS)To make the enforcement process as efficient and fair as pos-sible for all carriers, the U.S. DOT—through the FederalHighway Administration (FHWA) Office of FreightManagement and Operations, FMCSA, and the Researchand Innovative Technologies Administration (RITA), amongother agencies—is supporting state highway and transporta-tion officials by investigating concepts and technologies forfurther automating CMV enforcement functions. An exampleof this automation is the virtual weigh station, already beingdeployed in some jurisdictions, which enables CMVs to be

observed and weighed at locations other than traditional,staffed, fixed-site weigh and inspection stations. FHWA issupporting the development of a Best Practice DataInventory for Automated Enforcement Sites, which will doc-ument the current status of virtual weigh stations and similartechnologies. Under a separate contract, FHWA also spon-sored a Concept of Operations for Virtual Weigh Station.These sites employ a variety of sensor components to collectdata, such as weigh-in-motion (WIM) installation, a camerasystem, and wireless communications. The benefit of virtualweigh stations is that the enforcement facility does notrequire continuous staffing and is monitored from anotherlocation. Depending on the needs of the jurisdiction, thesesites can serve several purposes such as safety enforcement,data collection, security, and size and weight enforcement.Please see related story on page 20 by Tom Kearney andCathy Krupa for status updates from FHWA.

E-permitting and Electronic PermitsAs an example of this eventual e-Permitting and Virtual WeighStation technology, a fully compliant carrier can obtain therequired credentials or permits for a given shipment across mul-tiple jurisdictions electronically, via the Internet in advance of atrip. Then, as the truck and cargo traverse the highways andenter a state/jurisdiction, the roadside state enforcement systemidentifies the truck and its home or base state. The system auto-matically queries the local state’s back office permit system foran electronic copy of its permits and credential in this localjurisdiction, as well as the vehicle’s home state.


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Having CMVs identified out on the road

at highway speeds provides opportunities

to improve both efficiency

and effectiveness for enforcement.


This query can automatically authenticate the permitsobtained from the back office systems and verify that thecarrier/vehicle is in compliance. Upon successful verifica-tion, the truck and driver are given a green light to proceedon the mainline at highway speed, without slowing or stop-ping the vehicle or requiring entry into a weigh station. Insuch a system credentials and permits for all trucks encoun-tered can be verified, not just those specially selected by anofficer. In this implementation, a WIM virtual size/weightinspection can be conducted in parallel, verifying compli-ance to the permitted or legal size and weight. Should ananomaly be identified in either the permits or thesize/weight measure, the data are provided to an enforce-ment officer to examine and determine if interdiction or fur-ther examination is required. The process is repeated foreach state or jurisdiction requiring permits, allowing theefficient travel of a compliant and permitted truck to its des-tination, without delay due to one or more unnecessaryenforcement reviews and inspections. Enforcement officersare able to focus their efforts on the egregious violators, con-fident that fewer noncompliant carriers have slippedthrough the system. For more information about FHWA’sVWS see the related article in the Federal News section ofthis publication by Tom Kearney.

Intelligent ImagingLaw enforcement agencies benefit from using intelligent imag-ing solutions to improve the effectiveness and efficiency ofexisting commercial vehicle enforcement (CVE) operations.

Some examples of this include: Thermal Imaging InspectionSystems, U.S. DOT Recognition, CMV Imaging Systems,CMV License Plate Recognition, Smart Roadside InspectionSystem, and Integrated Safety and Security EnforcementSystem. On the plus side, screening is done at highway speeds,a benefit to the carriers with good records to pass through. Thedrawback, however, depending on the nature of the implemen-tation, could be cost.

U.S. DOT’s ITS Strategic Research Plan 2010-2014 OnlineU.S. DOT has posted a Fact Sheet and Executive Summary of itsforthcoming ITS Strategic Research Plan at http://www.its.dot.gov/strat_plan/index.htm. The document outlines how U.S. DOT plansto allocate research funding over the next five years, and assumes thatU.S. DOT’s ITS research program will receive the same level offunding as previous years - $100 million per year for five years. In2010, up to $77 million will be dedicated to multimodal research andan additional $14 million to technology transfer and evaluation.IntelliDrive research comprises $49 million of the multimodalresearch funds. U.S. DOT expects to release the full ITS StrategicResearch Plan in May 2010.

Encouraging Investment in Safety TechnologiesCVSA actively supports Reps. Mike Thompson (D-CA) andGeoff Davis (R-KY) for reintroducing the Commercial MotorVehicle Advanced Safety Technology Tax Act of 2009 (H.R.2024) in this year’s congress. The Bill would amend the InternalRevenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit against income tax tohelp accelerate the adoption of advanced safety systems for com-mercial vehicles, school and transit buses. Those systems includ-ed in the Bill are: brake stroke monitoring systems; vehicle stabil-ity systems; lane departure warning systems; and, collision warn-ing systems. The legislation will encompass both the originalequipment (OE) and aftermarket installation of these safety sys-tems. It also would: Create a tax credit for fleet owners valued at50 percent of the retail cost of the system with a maximum of$1,500 per technology; Allow fleets to purchase multiple tech-nologies, but limit the total amount of credit permissible to$3,500 per vehicle; and, Allow the overall tax credit for each truckowner or trucking company of up to $350,000 per year for all cov-ered technology purchases.

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C O V E R S T O R Y

Screening is done at highway speeds,

a benefit to the carriers with good records

to pass through



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IntelliDrive: A Quantum Leap Forward for Truck and Bus SafetyBy Jonathan Mueller, FMCSA, Office of Analysis, Research and Technology

The U.S. DOT’s IntelliDrive program has an ultimate vision of“crashless” vehicles operating on an information rich transporta-tion system. With its vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication systems sharing key data,IntelliDrive offers significant promise toward reducing crashes.

The high speed exchange of data will allow truck and busdrivers to be alerted quicker to potential hazards on the road.Other related safety applications include wireless monitoring ofthe safety status of drivers, vehicles and carriers while they areoperating and a “real time” parking information system thatallows truck drivers to reserve guaranteed parking spaces at theend of their work day.

Four initial categories of IntelliDrive applications for com-mercial vehicles include:• Wireless inspection technologies that permit safer and more

efficient operations at inspection stations, intermodal facili-ties and border crossings. It also allows for improved securi-ty and tracking of vehicles and drivers through “e-screening”and credentialing during transport of hazardous materials.

• Safety technologies that reduce commercial vehicle crashes,and improve response to crashes that do occur. These

include driver condition monitoring, collision avoidance andTrucker Advisory Systems.

• Travel information technologies that reduce travel times andmake trip time estimates more reliable for dispatchers anddrivers. Commercial vehicle specific routing and interactivemaps are examples.

• Fleet management technologies for motor carriers, shippersand receivers as well as real time diagnostic monitoring oftrucks for fleet maintenance, operations and safety managers.

FMCSA is partnering with the Federal Highway Administration’sFreight Office to evaluate how V2I technologies can speed mobil-ity and reduce emissions. For example, truck drivers deliveringshipping containers from one rail terminal across town could use“smart phones” in a safe, hands-free mode to get the latest loadavailability information from their dispatchers and receive real timedynamic traffic information to find the fastest route without delay,minimize waiting and idling time and reduce trips with emptyloads. For more information, contact [email protected] orcall FMCSA toll free 1-800-832-5660.


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As March turns to April, and inspectors allacross my home province of Ontario startto get the taste of road salt out of theirmouths, a couple things start to happen.One, we all seem to get overly optimisticabout every day that manages to peek abovefreezing… and two, the selection processfor this year’s NAIC representative fromOntario starts to kick into high gear.

In Ontario, an annual event called theNational Safety Code (NSC) Challenge isheld to determine who will go and representus at NAIC. This challenge is open to allinspectors from across the province and isconducted in two parts. The first phase,usually held in May, is a qualifier of sorts. Itis a series of three written tests conducted inall regions of the province. These tests coverHours of Service, Dangerous Goods/HazMat and CVSA’s North AmericanStandard Out-of-Service Criteria (OOSC).The regional challenges are used to drum upinterest and support for both NAIC and theNSC Challenge by trying to make themenjoyable and fun. In years past, I remem-ber many inspectors looking forward toattending the regional challenge, even if itwas for nothing more than the free lunch(who doesn’t like a free lunch?) and thechance to catch up with others they hadn’tseen in a while. In addition, prizes are givenout to the inspectors who win a category orreceive top marks in their region. In pastyears we have had as many as 135 inspectorscompete at that level.

Using the results of these regional chal-lenges, ten inspectors are selected to attendthe second phase, a provincial competitionheld in July. Similar to NAIC being held inconjunction with the National TruckDriving Championships, the NSCChallenge is held in conjunction with theOntario Truck Driving Championships.This year the provincial competition will beheld in Milton, Ontario (about 50 km/30miles west of Toronto). This promotes pos-

itive ties between inspectors and drivers aswell as between government and industry.The event itself lasts about three days and isvery similar to what takes place at NAIC,albeit on a much smaller scale. Inspectorsare challenged with a CVSA Level Iinspection, a CVSA Level V motorcoachinspection, Dangerous Goods/HazMatsmall means of containment (SMOC) andbulk/tanker inspections, a personal inter-view and written test. These events arescored and individual event champions,along with a provincial champion arenamed at a joint banquet with the truckdriving championships.

Last year, I was fortunate enough thewin the provincial NSC Challenge and rep-resent Ontario at NAIC. One of the priv-ileges of winning in this province is that thefollowing year (this year), I am given thetask of putting together Ontario’s currentNSC Challenge. Thus far, this is provingalmost more difficult than actually partici-pating in the event. Luckily, I am support-ed by a committee of previous provincialchampions, some of whom have been partin this event for 15 years. My current proj-ect is to come up with the three regionaltests, making them challenging, but not toodifficult. It’s amazing how many times I’vebeen able to put together a DG/HazMatscenario, only to have someone tell me Imessed up the placarding. Or how easy it isto overlook and forget some of the viola-tions that you yourself put in a logbook.

One of the unique aspects of the NSCChallenge is that once an individual has wonand attended NAIC, they step aside andallow others to represent the province. Indoing this, they form part of the NSCChallenge organizing committee for futureyears. This provides many benefits to theprovincial competition including the knowl-edge and perspective that everyone bringsfrom their own NAIC experience. Thismosaic of ideas helps keep the event fun and

fresh from year to year, with individualscoming up with new ways of throwing thecompetitors off their game. Last year, forexample, it was decided to put a massivehole, complete with kitty litter representing aleak, in one of the DG/HazMat smallmeans of containment. There are severalamusing photographs of competitors (myselfincluded) preoccupied with the labels on thefront of the container while completelyoblivious to the massive leak on the back.

The overall goal of the NSC Challengeis to be an enjoyable and informative event.It is an opportunity for Ontario’s inspectorsto meet and learn from one another and fos-ter a sense of community within our agency.While still a competition, every year there isalways a sense camaraderie and friendshipdisplayed amongst the competitors.Individuals are often seen working togetherbefore their events to try and deduce whatdefects might be coming their way. From alearning standpoint, the event provides thechance to focus on areas such as OOS crite-ria or hours of service interpretations thathave proven confusing. By learning the cor-rect interpretations, it provides the competi-tors better tools to work with when return-ing their day to day jobs, tools which areshared with their fellow inspectors.

Both the regional competition and theprovincial competition allows for the provinceto compile information on issues that inspec-tors could use more training in as well.

Ultimately, the NSC Challenge hasproven to be a fantastic method for selectingOntario’s representative to NAIC. It ensuresthat the representative is well prepared andhas some idea of what to expect when theyget to the Inspectors Championship. I knowmany jurisdictions have similar competitionsto select their representatives and I know theyare just as rewarding. For those jurisdictionsthat are considering a competition of theirown, hopefully the benefits outlined in thisarticle will assist you in making that decision.

Inspector’s CornerBy Alex Bugeya, Ontario Ministry of Transportation, Transportation Enforcement Officer, NAIC 2009 Grand Champion

Alex Bugeya


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Throughout the past year, the Driver-Traffic Enforcement Committee hasbeen working on several issues that mostCVSA members are now very familiarwith — the U.S. DOT’s recent announce-ment that existing federal regulationsmay be enforced against most interstatetruck and bus drivers who text whiledriving. FMCSA will also be launching anotice and comment rulemaking pro-ceeding to request public comments onthe subject. In anticipation of this,CVSA formed an ad-hoc committee inSeptember 2009 which will present anddiscuss their draft of “CVSA GuidingPrinciples to Combat DistractedDriving” and talk about the scope of therulemaking at the 2010 CVSAWorkshop in San Antonio. The Driver-Traffic Enforcement Committee isworking with the Training Committee todevelop a training bulletin on driver dis-traction and CVSA has put in for a highpriority grant for this. Through ourOperation Safe Driver campaign, CVSAhas put in a high-priority grant to devel-op a training program for distracteddriving. This is an issue that we will besorting through for some time.

Distracted Driving RuleAt press time, Secretary of TransportationRay La Hood just announced a newFMCSA rulemaking that would imposea federal ban on texting for many com-mercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers. Itwould also require states to disqualifydrivers holding a commercial motorvehicle license from operating a CMVonce they have been convicted of violat-ing anti-texting laws in any state or local-ity. To learn exactly what FMCSA isproposing and weigh in on it, please visitthe Regulation Room (http://www.regu-

lationroom.org). This is an online publicparticipation website where individualsand groups can learn about and discussproposed new federal regulations, work-ing together to provide effective feedbackto agency decision-makers. It is hosted byCeRI – a research group based at CornellLaw School; it brings together facultyand students from law, conflict resolution,computing and information science, andthe social sciences.

Driver FitnessIn addition to driver distractions, wecontinue to review/evaluate many areasrelated to driver medical/fitness require-ments or concerns. Some related exam-ples are sleep apnea (See related story onpage 46); drug testing; entry level drivertraining; and language proficiency.

EOBRsAt press time, FMCSA issued a new rulethat will require interstate commercialtruck and bus companies with seriouspatterns of hours-of-service (HOS) vio-lations to install electronic on-boardrecorders (EOBRs) in all their vehicles.Nearly 5,700 interstate carriers will useEOBRs after the final rule’s first year ofimplementation.

“We are committed to cracking downon carriers and drivers who put people onour roads and highways at risk,” “saidSecretary Ray LaHood. “This rule givesus another tool to enforce hours of serv-ice restrictions on drivers who attempt toget around the rules.”

“Safety is our highest priority,” saidFMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro.“In addition to requiring EOBRs for car-riers that have already demonstrated apattern of hours-of-service violations, wewill initiate a rulemaking later this year

that considers an EOBR mandate for abroader population of commercial motorcarriers.”

Electronic on-board recorders aredevices attached to commercial vehicles thatautomatically record the number of hoursdrivers spend operating the vehicle. Drivinghours are regulated by federal HOS rules,which are designed to prevent commercialvehicle-related crashes and fatalities by pre-scribing on-duty and rest periods for drivers.Under the EOBR final rule, carriers foundwith 10 percent or more HOS violationsduring a compliance review will be requiredto install EOBRs in all their vehicles for aminimum of two years. The rule also pro-vides new technical performance standardsfor EOBRs installed in commercial motorvehicles, including requirements for record-ing the date, time and location of a driver’sduty status. Additionally, carriers thatvoluntarily adopt EOBRs will receive relieffrom some of FMCSA’s requirements toretain HOS supporting documents, such astoll receipts used to check the accuracy ofdriver logbooks. The rule will go into effecton June 1, 2012, to ensure EOBR manufac-turers have sufficient time to meet the rule’s

Driver-Traffic Enforcement Committee Evaluates Effective Traffic EnforcementStrategies to Reduce CMV Crashes, Addresses Current Driver-Related Safety IssuesBy Capt. Gerry Krolikowski, Nebraska State Patrol, CVSA Chair, Driver-Traffic Enforcement Committee


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C O M M I T T E E N E W S

performance standards and to manufactureproducts to meet industry demand. TheEOBRs for HOS Compliance rule is ondisplay at the Office of the Federal Register’swebsite (www.gpoaccess.gov) and appearedin the Federal Register on April 2.

For the roadside inspector, thesechanges will require that they get accus-tomed to reviewing an electronic readoutversus what they are used to looking at, apaper log.

Our goal ultimately is to establish asystem that sets what the minimum has tobe and let industry come up with the ideason how best to meet it. As we move for-ward, the exciting part is the smart road-side element of it. EOBRs are one piecethat when you combine with smart road-side technology has the potential tobecome a screening tool. For example,some inspection facilities or even virtualweigh stations that incorporate prescreen-ing technology could possibly now screendrivers for compliance with hours of serv-ice, allowing those vehicles and drivers incompliance to keep going. Whether ornot a smart roadside system is somethingindustry will want years down the roadhas yet to be determined. But to get there,we need an EOBR system in place to helpensure that those in industry who aredoing well in the realm of safety receiveless scrutiny and those who are not receivemore attention from law enforcement.

Hours of ServiceFMCSA has been holding listening ses-sions after a rewrite of the rule was trig-gered by an agreement in October 2009between FMCSA and safety advocacygroups. On October 26, 2009, PublicCitizen, et al. (Petitioners) and FMCSAentered into a settlement agreementunder which the parties agreed to seek to

hold petitioners’ petition for judicialreview of the November 19, 2008 FinalRule on drivers’ HOS in abeyance pend-ing the publication of an NPRM. Thesettlement agreement states thatFMCSA will submit the draft NPRM tothe Office of Management and Budget(OMB) within nine months, and publisha Final Rule within 21 months, of thedate of the settlement agreement. Thecurrent rule will remain in effect duringthe rulemaking proceedings.

The Committee continues to closelymonitor the progression of this rule mak-ing and has worked with CVSA staff toassure the Alliance has shared its viewsregarding hours of service regulationsduring the listening sessions.

CVSA Listening Session Testimony The following is testimony provided byCVSA’s Interim Executive DirectorStephen A. Keppler during the FMCSAListening Sessions on Hours of Servicefor CMV Drivers on January 19, 2010.

To be effective for both enforcementand industry, HOS regulations need clar-ity, brevity, and to be simple and practical.

Regarding the current rule, what hasworked and what has not?The rules are fairly easy to understandand enforce roadside and we have notseen any significant issues roadside, otherthan:• The lack of rules related to support-

ing documents required for hours ofservice to be maintained on the vehi-cle. This has made it difficult insome cases for roadside enforcementto verify compliance and to identifyfalsification.

• In a number of instances drivers arenot providing complete/accurate or

producing the required records ofduty status roadside.

What should guiding principles be forthe new rules?• Uniformity. This is important for sev-

eral fundamental reasons:> It makes training and education

efforts, as well as compliance andenforcement activities more sim-ple and effective;

> It provides a better means withwhich to measure impacts onsafety and programs;

> It provides a better means withwhich to share and implementbest practices among the variousenforcement jurisdictions; and

> It facilitates reciprocity and fairtreatment to industry across juris-dictional boundaries.

• Be simple. Complexity affects uni-formity in a number of ways:> It creates difficulty and variation

in application and interpretation.> It creates challenges to harmo-

nization with state, provincial,and local laws.

> It creates frustration, which leadsto misunderstanding.

> It creates difficulty in the devel-opment of training and educa-tional tools.

> It creates an environment of sub-jectivity rather than objectivity.

• Be enforceable roadside, and provideinspectors with the proper tools todo so.

• Be science-based and data-driven onfactors relating to driver fatigue,health, workload, safety performanceand crash reduction.

• Provide adequate time to allow forthe smooth implementation for com-

Capt. Gerry Krolikowski


38


pliance and enforcement personnelas well as industry (i.e. regulatorychanges at the state level, Out-of-Service criteria development, train-ing, software, etc.).

• Include passenger carrying vehicledrivers in the process so the end resultis one set of rules for all CMV drivers.

• Ensure there is clarity and clear under-standing with respect to the HOS reg-ulations, regulatory guidance andFMCSA enforcement policies. Makesure there is no conflicting informationthat hampers enforcement.

• Ensure there are adequate provisionswithin the work week to permit theopportunity for drivers to achieverestorative sleep.

• Provide flexibility for drivers to usesleeper berths effectively, having theopportunity to take short-term napsas well as longer term sleep periods.

• Require supporting documents to bemaintained on the vehicle with therecord of duty status during the cur-rent inspection period.

Additional Comments• CVSA supports a mandate for

Electronic On Board Recorders(EOBRs) for hours-of-service (HOS)compliance for all commercial vehicledrivers. We know FMCSA has a cur-rent rulemaking on this and anotherone is being planned; however, westrongly suggest that consideration begiven to an across the board mandate.

• FMCSA should facilitate the imple-mentation of Fatigue Management

Programs and Driver Health andWellness Programs in the industrythat have been proven to improvedriver safety, health and performance.

• FMCSA should further investigatesleep apnea regarding CMV driversand, based on science, research andtesting, make needed regulatorychanges to minimize driver risk andimprove driver alertness, health andperformance.

• We also need to evaluate Canada’sHOS rules and supporting researchfor potential areas of harmonization

(i.e. the U.S. restart provision is for 34hours, while Canada’s is 36).

Ongoing Needs• Ensure there is a robust process in

place for evaluating the safety impactsrelated to existing and any potentialfuture regulatory and statutory exemp-tions on HOS. There are several statu-tory exemptions for HOS that wereenacted in SAFETEA-LU. We do notbelieve providing for safety exemp-tions through statute is good publicpolicy, especially in light of the factthat some of these exemptions werenot granted — in our view — based onscience and safety.The hours of service

regulations are first and foremosthighway safety rules and are not meantto conform to industry operations.

• Put in place a systematic process forperiodically reviewing and evaluatingthe HOS rules for relevance andwhether they are having the desiredeffects (i.e. crash reduction)

Whatever decision is made with therules, please keep them in place!Constantly changing the rules createschallenges with consistency and unifor-mity in compliance and enforcement.

Last but not least we thank FMCSA forthe opportunity to provide input andcomments to this very important high-way safety issue.

CDLIS/NLETSFMCSA formed a committee that metin mid-March 2010 to work on tryingto get these two systems more in linewith each other so officers can get thesafety data they need while contactingdrivers roadside. The committee, sever-al of its members and CVSA staff areactively involved in working on thisissue with FMCSA. See FMCSA sen-ior program manager Dave Goettee’supdate on page 15.

FMCSA formed a committee that met in mid-March 2010 to work on trying to get [NLETS/CDLIS] more in line

with each other so officers can get the safety data they needwhile contacting drivers roadside.

Buesing CorporationEQT Corporation

Fikes Truck Line LLCFindlay Township Police Department

Fleetcare International LLCFreight Exchange of North America

Jamesway LimitedMcElroy Truck Lines, Inc.

National Interstate Insurance CompanyOdegard Harvesting

Old Brookville Police DepartmentPort Authority Transit Police

Roland J. Montbrand & Sons Trucking LLCSan Antonio Police DepartmentSherwood Construction Co., Inc.

Usher Transport, Inc.

NEW CVSA ASSOCIATE AND LOCAL ENFORCEMENT MEMBERS


REGION IConnecticut, Delaware, District ofColumbia, Maine, Maryland,Massachusetts, New Hampshire, NewJersey, New York, Pennsylvania, PuertoRico, Rhode Island, US Virgin Islands,and Vermont.

REGION IIAlabama, American Samoa, Arkansas,Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,Mississippi, North Carolina,Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee,Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

REGION IIIColorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota,Missouri, Nebraska,North Dakota, Northern MarianaIslands, Ohio, South Dakota, andWisconsin.

REGION IVAlaska, Arizona, California, Guam,Hawaii, Idaho, Mexico, Montana,Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah,Washington, and Wyoming.

REGION VAlberta, British Columbia, Manitoba,New Brunswick, Newfoundland andLabrador, Nova Scotia, NorthwestTerritories, Nunavut, Ontario, PrinceEdward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan,and Yukon.

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R E G I O N A L N E W S

I

V

IVIII

IIA commercial truck passes through a New

Mexico Port of Entry (POE) with only a

wave to continue on its way. This flow

through continues for thousands of trucks

each day with only minimal impact on the

nation’s flow of commerce. The scene is

not dissimilar from that of other ports of

entry in the state and around the country.

POEs and weigh stations are the traditional

focal point of commercial motor vehicle

(CMV) interactions with those government

agencies responsible for enforcing CMV

regulations. There is, however, something

very different happening behind the scenes

at this and other select POE’s around New

Mexico. It holds the opportunity to revolu-

tionize the delivery of CMV safety and

security operations in the state and around

the nation by promoting a future model of

CMV safety in North America.

New Mexico’s Department of Public

Safety (DPS) Motor Transportation Police

Division (MTPD) has begun deploying a

statewide Smart Roadside Program that uses

advanced technology systems to improve

the efficiency and effectiveness of its road-

side operations. The program includes the

installation of next generation camera sys-

tems on the ramps that lead up to inspection

facilities. Each passing vehicle is identified

by its license plate and U.S. DOT number.

Other onsite sensor data from traditional

roadside electronic devices like weigh-in-

motion systems and over dimension devices

are integrated and pooled together with the

vehicle and carrier identification. Smart

Roadside uses the identification data to

access multiple remote databases and uti-

lizes the information returned, in conjunction

with other sensor data, to determine

whether the identified vehicle warrants a fol-

low-up inspection according to MTPD’s risk

profiles. Smart Roadside’s connectivity to

remote safety and security databases

includes information sources such as Federal

DOT safety programs like SAFER and PRISM,

the FBI’s National Crime Information Center,

and New Mexico’s Taxation and Revenue

Department. “Smart Roadside brings the

power of multiple information systems to the

roadside to enable the automated pre-

screening of vehicles in motion. This allows

our officers to focus attention and resources

on high-risk vehicles,” said MTPD’s Maj. Ron

Cordova.

This screening intelligence at the roadside

is a radical departure from traditional screen-

ing methods that were either limited to the

weight, dimensions and obvious physical

defects or based on simple random inspec-

tions. With a current national equipment out-

of-service rate of around 22 percent, tradi-

tional methods offer limited success, saddle

enforcement agencies with inefficient use of

resources and reinforce an unlevel playing

field in the transportation industry, where irre-

sponsible carriers can skirt maintenance and

safety costs with impunity. Smart Roadside

ends the anonymity and guesswork at the

roadside and offers front line officers access

to timely and critical information before

pulling a vehicle from the flow of traffic. “This

technology represents a powerful new tool

set for our agency, it enables a strategic shift

away from the ineffective practices of the

past and helps us promote safer highways in

our state,” said. Cordova.

Smart Roadside Program Uses Advanced TechnologySystems To Improve Efficiency, Effectiveness ofInspections throughout New Mexico


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In 2004 Alberta Transportation,Commercial Vehicle EnforcementBranch undertook a pilot project of con-ducting thermal imaging observations oncommercial vehicles capable of 4,500kilograms or more at various locationsthroughout Alberta. This pilot projectwas undertaken fol lowing theMcDermid Report (2004) Recommenda-tions which stated “Take advantage ofadvances in technology provided theobjectives are directly related to improv-ing road safety.”

Assigned transport officers weredeployed with a demonstration unit in2004/2005 (March 2004 to January2005) and utilized the equipment pro-vided by Intelligent Imaging Systemsfrom Edmonton, AB. From the results ofthe pilot project Alberta Infrastructure &Transportation, Commercial VehicleEnforcement Branch has purchasedthermal imaging equipment in 2007 andit is currently being deployed by ninetransport officers throughout theProvince of Alberta.

Thermography is the use of aninfrared imaging and measurementcamera to “see” and “measure” thermalenergy emitted from an object. Thehigher the object’s temperature, thegreater the IR radiation emitted.Infrared allows us to see what our eyes

cannot. Infrared thermography camerasproduce images of invisible infrared or“heat” radiation and provide precisenon-contact temperature measurementcapabilities. Nearly everything gets hotbefore it fails, making infrared camerasextremely cost-effective, valuable diag-nostic tools in commercial vehicleenforcement applications.

Commercial Vehicle Enforcement’sThermal Imaging Units are customdesigned to perform inspections oncommercial vehicles while providingthe operator with a comfortable, cli-mate controlled environment. Theseunits are capable of performing brakeinspections on moving commercialvehicles. The Thermal Imaging Unitscan be moved to multiple locations andhave multiple uses. Weather does notaffect the operational ability of theThermal Imaging Units. The follow-ing list is a sample of the potential usesfor these units:

1. Commercial Vehicle InspectionMalfunctioning brakesOverheated brakesOverheated bearingsUnder-inflated tiresRetread separationOverloaded unitsFalse compartment identification

2. Dangerous Goods Inspection andDisaster ResponseEmergency responseFire source detectionCargo tank profiling (fluid levels &

voids that contain fluid)Spill zone detection

3. Law Enforcement InspectionSearch and RescueCargo Profiling

C.V.E.B. Thermal ImagingEquipmentC.V.E.B. mobile thermal imaging unitconsists of:• Three Custom designed vans• Color & Thermal Camera (three

mounting options)• Thermal Imaging System and

Software• Inspection Documentation System• Workstation• Monitors• Power Supply and Management

System• UHF Radio System (including

portable radio)

Thermal Imaging Unit DeploymentCommercial Vehicle EnforcementBranch deploys the three ThermalImaging Units at selected locations

Alberta Pilot Project Results Confirm Thermal Imaging Assists TransportOfficers in Identifying CMV Mechanical Defects, Making Roadways SaferBy Mr. Steve Callahan, Chief Transport Officer, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Branch, Alberta Transportation, and Rob Sapinsky, Transport Officer Thermal Imaging Coordinator, Commercial VehicleEnforcement Branch, Alberta Transportation


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throughout Alberta. The use of this tech-nology allows for pre-screening of com-mercial vehicles and identifies serioussafety defects ahead of an actual inspec-tion therefore, selecting vehicles that maybe a hazard on the highways. CommercialVehicles are screened as they enter a sitelocation. Thermal Imaging Operatorsthen notify an interceptor of vehicles thatappear to have problems. Once a vehicleis identified the interceptor will direct itto an area where team/s of officers areassigned to conduct the appropriate levelof CVSA inspection (Level I, II or III).

How are we doing?Our Thermal Imaging Units wereplaced into service on May 15, 2007.The results have confirmed that strategicdeployment of Thermal Imaging toassist transport officers and police agen-cies in identifying commercial vehicleswith mechanical defects is assisting tomake our highways safer.

Alberta’s Thermal Imaging Teamcurrently consists of three equippedThermal Imaging Units and trainedoperators which are from strategic loca-tions throughout Alberta. ThermalImaging operators are required to suc-cessfully complete an extensive trainingprogram which includes theory andpractical evaluations.

Alberta Implements PBBT Program, FindsTechnological Advancements Enhance BrakeTesting

Defective brakes are the leading cause ofcommercial vehicle fatality and injurycollisions that have been attributed tomechanical failure. Although there iscurrently an on-road inspection programadministered by Alberta Transportation– Commercial Vehicle EnforcementBranch, there are advancements in tech-nology that makes brake testing moreaccurate, direct and less subjective thencurrent practices allow.

The current North AmericanStandard Inspection (NASI) program is avisual inspection performed by CVSAcertified inspectors. This inspection canidentify obvious mechanical failures suchas worn, broken, loose or missing compo-nents as well as brakes out of adjustment.These inspections have a reasonableimpact in removing dangerous vehiclesoff the road but more can be done.

In the spring of 2010 actual brakeperformance of commercial vehiclesoperating in Alberta will be determinedby implementing four portablePerformance Based Brake Testers(PBBT’s). A PBBT is a device that canassess vehicle braking capability throughquantitative measures of an individual

wheel’s brake force or overall vehicle per-formance in a controlled test.

Because defective brakes are a leadingcause of vehicle factors that lead to colli-sions in Alberta, more is being done toreduce the frequency of this type of colli-sion. CVSA NASI inspections will becomplimented with the PBBT to increasethe number of commercial vehicles thatare identified as unsafe due to defectivebrakes. This will result in more of thesevehicles being repaired, and/or removedfrom the highway before collisions occur.

The PBBTs cannot replace an inspec-tor in finding brake defects unrelated toimmediate brake performance, such as airleaks, chafed brake hose, or thin brake lin-ings. However, they can provide an objec-tive and consistent measure of vehiclebraking performance, irrespective of braketype, energy supply, or actuation method,and without having to crawl underneaththe vehicle as with the current inspectionmethod. PBBTs are widely used for brakeinspection in Europe and Australia, andare beginning to emerge in the UnitedStates as both an enforcement tool anddiagnostic aid for private sector mainte-nance and repair shops.


42


CMV enforcement personnel in NorthCarolina, working hand in hand with theInstitute for Transportation Researchand Education at NC State University,continue to take steps to integrateMCSAP and truck size and weightenforcement. For the past two years, sizeand weight enforcement personnel havesought to build upon the GIS crashmapping capability initiated by MCSAPover eight years ago.

Working together MCSAP, size andweight personnel are now developing acapability to ‘map,’ and to display foranalysis and planning purposes, all MCEenforcement activity. This capability ispermitting operational MCE personnelto view discrepancies between areas ofenforcement effort and areas requiringenforcement emphasis (e.g., areas of highcrash density). (Figure 1)

MCE continues to work with ITREat NC State University to develop statis-tically appropriate methods for ‘hot spot’identification (Figure 2) as well as toolssuch as the ‘Road Vulnerability Index’(Figure 3) to integrate pavement and

bridge condition data with traffic andcrash data to target size and weightenforcement efforts. (Figures 2 and 3)

Under their lead, all MCE vehicleshave been equipped with GPS capabili-ties. Using GIS ‘layers’ developed forcrash mapping applications by MCSAP,testing is underway to enable size andweight officers to have an in-vehicle,GPS based ‘map’ display that shows theirreal time vehicle location relative to theboundaries of the national truck networkas well as all posted roads and bridges in

their areas of operation.MCE and ITRE researchers are also

working with the state’s emergency man-agement office to develop enforcement-specific content for its development of a‘common operational picture’ concept forstatewide application.

As always, enforcement ‘effectiveness’remains a high priority. To do this, ITREhas helped MCE personnel to develop aMCE ‘Scorecard’ (Figure 4) that graphi-cally and numerically tracks all CVSPand Size and Weight performances goalsand objectives, providing field supervi-sors an ability to continuously track thesuccess of troop level strategies and theireffectiveness in meeting unit and statelevel goals. (Figure 4)

For more information, contact: GregFerrara, GISP, Program Manager, VAMSGroup, Institute for TransportationResearch and Education, North CarolinaState University, Centennial Campus,Research, [email protected], or phone (919)515-8656. Or visit our website at http://www.itre.ncsu.edu/ orhttp://vams.itre.ncsu.edu/

North Carolina Motor Carrier Enforcement Integrates GIS Capabilities

Figure 1. Enforcement activities relative to truck crashes. Figure 2. Hot Spot Analysis for Troop B.

Figure 3. Draft Road Vulnerability Index for Troop B.

Figure 4. Sample MCE Scorecard results screen.


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Like most states, Colorado has conducted interstate safetyaudits since 2004. In addition to interstate safety audits, in2004 Colorado began conducting safety audits on Coloradobased intrastate carries. In the past six years the number of car-riers requiring interstate safety audits has increase drastically. In2009, to address this increase the Colorado State Patrol MotorCarrier Safety Section began developing a web-based safetyaudit process for intrastate carriers. By having intrastate carri-ers conduct their safety audit on-line, it gives our officers moretime to complete other traffic safety activities. We are current-ly working with FMCSA, IT staff to import intrastate carrierinformation to a state database. These new carriers will thenlog into our web-site to complete a web-based safety audit.Once they complete the safety audit, they will be advised of anyareas where they are deficient and how they can correct theirdeficiencies. We hope to have the program fully operational bythe end of 2010.

Web-Based Intrastate Safety AuditsGives Colorado Officers More Time toComplete Traffic Safety ActivitiesBy Sgt. JD Williams, Colorado State Police, MCSAP

Commercial vehicle enforcement officials from Indiana,Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio met in Indianapolis on March18, 2010 to plan a series of special multi-state commercial vehi-cle enforcement operations for 2010. This will mark the 13thstraight year these coordinated interstate enforcement opera-tions have taken place.

This year special enforcement will take place in conjunc-tion with Roadcheck, Brake Safety Awareness Week, and onseveral other dates. Special focus will be different for eachoperation and will include HazMat, brakes, load securement,size and weight, alcohol, speed, unsafe food transport and ille-gal drugs. A special joint operation will also focus on 15 pas-senger vans once the new FMCSR covering these vehicles isin place.

On July 2, Michigan and Indiana will participate in an I-94coast-to-coast enforcement blitz targeting alcohol impaired driv-ers of both commercial and non-commercial vehicles.

Midwest States Plan EnforcementBlitzesBy Capt. Robert R. Powers, Michigan State Police

REGIONAL RAP

CVSA MEMBERS PARTICIPATE IN DOTSECRETARY LAHOOD’S PRESS CONFERENCE ONDISTRACTED DRIVING

CVSA members Capt. BillDofflemyer, Maryland State Police(far right) and M/Tpr. R. C. Powell,Virginia State Police (far left) joinU.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood atthe Motor Carriers DistractedDriving Press Event January 26,2010 in Washington DC.


All trucking company owners and fleetmanagers want their drivers to returnhome safely from each delivery. Becauseof that, motor carriers from across thecountry have gone to great lengths tosignificantly improve safety on ournation’s highways while delivering thegoods that we depend on daily.

Since new hours-of-service regulationstook effect in 2004, the truck-involvedfatality rate has decreased more than 20percent and is at its lowest rate since theU.S. Department of Transportation begankeeping those records in 1975. Moreover,the truck-involved fatality rate in 2008declined 12.3 percent from the previousyear. This decrease marks the largest everyear-over-year drop and the fifth consecu-tive year in which the fatality rate hasimproved.

While these are encouraging trends,ATA continues to promote a progressivesafety agenda that will further reducefatalities and injuries on our nation’shighways. In June 2009, ATA adopted an18-point safety agenda that focuses onimproving both commercial and non-commercial driver performance, choos-ing safer commercial vehicles and equip-ment, and improving federal oversight.

While developing the 18 policies,ATA’s safety task force of 21 truckingindustry representatives worked from theempirical knowledge that traffic crashesare overwhelmingly caused by humanerror, such as unsafe driving behaviors.Policies including advocating for anational 65-mph speed limit, increasinguse of red light cameras and automatedspeed enforcement, and supporting grad-uated licensing in all states for non-com-mercial teen drivers are just a few of therecommendations that focus on generalhighway safety.

In addition to the policies that applyto all vehicle drivers, ATA continues toadvance policies that further improvethe operations and safety of motor carri-ers. ATA urges Congress to create anational clearinghouse for positive drugand alcohol test results of commercialdrivers, create a national registry of cer-tified medical examiners, and requiresafety training for new motor carriersentering the market. Implementingthese recommendations will improve thequality of drivers and companies thatoperate on our highways.

All drivers have a responsibility tokeep safety as the number one priority.ATA believes that implementing thisprogressive agenda will further improvesafety on our highways. Furthermore,we urge Congress to reauthorize along-term highway bill that focuses ona national transportation strategy toreduce congestion. Passage is critical tosetting highway safety policy for thecoming years and reversing the impactsof congestion on highway safety andthe economy.

The following 10 adopted recom-mendations are aimed at improvingtruck and passenger vehicle driver per-formance:• Support a policy on the use of non-

integrated technologies while thevehicle is in motion;

• Support for uniform commercial driv-ers license (CDL) testing standards;

• Support for a Graduated CDL study;• Support for additional parking facili-

ties for trucks;• Support for a national maximum

65mph speed limit;

• Strategies to increase the use of seatbelts;

• Support for a national car-truckdriver behavior improvement pro-gram;

• Support for increased use of red lightcameras and automated speedenforcement;

• Support for graduated licensing in allstates for non-commercial teen driv-ers; and,

• Support for more stringent laws toreduce drinking and driving.

Three of the adopted Task Force recom-mendations that focus on making vehi-cles safer are:• Support for targeted electronic speed

governing of certain non-commercialvehicles;

• Support for electronic speed govern-ing at 65 MPH of all large trucksmade since 1992; and,

• Support for new large truck crash-worthiness standards.

Five of the adopted recommendationsthat will provide tools for motor carriersto operate more safely include:• Support for a national employer

notification system;• Support for the creation of a national

clearinghouse for positive drug andalcohol test results of CDL holders;

• Support for a national registry ofcertified medical examiners;

• Support for carrier access to thenational Driver InformationResource; and,

• Support for required safety trainingby new entrant motor carriers.

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INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

ATA: Promoting a Progressive Safety Agenda That Aims to Further Reduce Fatalities, Injuries on Nation’s HighwaysBy Rob Abbott, Vice President for Safety Policy, American Trucking Associations (ATA) Rob Abbott

THE COMPLETE ATA SAFETY TASK FORCE REPORT IS AVAILABLE AT HTTP://WWW.TRUCKLINE.COM/SAFETY


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The National District AttorneysAssociation (NDAA), a non-profitorganization that serves prosecutorsacross the nation, has long recognized theissues particular to the prosecution ofvehicular crimes. In 1992, NDAA,through a cooperative agreement with theU.S. Department of Transportation,National Highway Traffic HighwaySafety Administration (NHTSA), createdthe National Traffic Law Center (NTLC)staffed with attorneys possessing specialexpertise in traffic-related cases. NTLCattorneys do not actually prosecute cases.Instead, they work to improve the quali-ty of justice in traffic safety adjudicationsby increasing the awareness of highwaysafety issues through the compilation,creation and dissemination of legal andtechnical information. They also providetraining and reference services to prose-cutors, judges, law enforcement andother allied professionals in the criminaljustice system.

NDAA often forms cooperative part-nerships with other organizationsthrough joint campaigns or the receipt ofgrant funding. Grant funding may beused to assist prosecutors with technicalquestions, develop teaching curriculum,or to produce resource materials.NTLC has worked with several trafficsafety partners, in addition to NHTSA,to achieve safer roads. NTLC partici-pated in CVSA’s 2010 Operation SafeDriver Campaign at the campaignlaunch. Most recently, NTLC has devel-oped a working relationship withFMSCA.

In July of 2009, FMCSA awarded agrant to the NDAA to fund a full-timeSenior Attorney. The purpose of thisposition was to create a resource for pros-ecutors, law enforcement, and judges deal-

ing with commercial vehicle violations andrelated criminal offenses. This grant waspart of the FMSCA’s long-term strategyof improving CDL enforcement and iden-tifying problem CDL drivers. KristenShea, is the new Senior Attorney workingexclusively on issues of commercial motorvehicles and commercial drivers’ licenses.Ms. Shea served for almost ten years as aprosecutor, specializing in traffic relatedoffenses. Most recently, Ms. Shea came toNDAA from the Tennessee Governor’sHighway Safety Office.

This grant position is an acknowledge-ment that, although prosecuting attorneysmay be very experienced in handling casesinvolving moving violations or crashes ofpersonal vehicles, commercial vehicles areoften outside the average prosecutor’sscope of knowledge. The same is oftentrue for law enforcement officers andjudges asked to deal with violations out-side of their typical experience. This lackof training can potentially result in moredifficult adjudications of commercialmotor vehicle-involved cases.

The best way to overcome a lack ofexpertise in this particular field is to offera centralized location where support andresources are available. NDAA is nowable to able to offer that service to prose-cutors across the country. NDAA andFMCSA have taken the first step in cre-ating that support system for those han-dling CMV cases. NTLC and Ms. Sheaare tasked with producing a monograph(manual) of basic information relating tocommercial motor vehicle law. From themonograph, a training curriculum will bedeveloped and geared towards prosecu-tors and law enforcement officers seekinginformation or training regarding CMVcases. The ultimate goal of this endeavoris to insure that CDL violators will

receive fair and proper adjudication inaccordance with state and federal regula-tions. Legislators across the country havesucceeded in passing effective legislationaimed at removing dangerous drivers andcarriers from operation. Law enforce-ment officers are working hard in everystate to identify and cite dangerous driv-er. Without proper prosecution andadjudication of these offenses, however,all these efforts might be wasted.

Providing the necessary informationwill guarantee that prosecutors, lawenforcement officers, judges and othermembers of the criminal justice systemunderstand the importance of properlyand correctly reporting CDL-relatedconvictions to licensing authorities.Adherence to federal regulations willkeep states in compliance with federalfunding authorities. When the laws arefollowed, they can and will function tosafeguard our roadways. Everyone in thecriminal justice system, the commercialtrucking industry, and the community atlarge wants to keep unsafe drivers off ourroads. In fact, the majority of commer-cial truck and bus drivers are very safedrivers. It is only a small percentage ofCDL holders who repeatedly violatetraffic safety laws and who end up caus-ing most crashes. NDAA can now helpsupport the consistent and fair adjudica-tion of offenses with CDL implicationsand proper reporting of convictionsallowing the system to identify andaddress the drivers who potentially posea danger to the public or themselves.

Kristen Shea may be reached via e-mail [email protected] or by telephone at703-519-1644. That National DistrictAttorneys Association is located at 44Canal Center Plaza, Suite 110 inAlexandria, VA (22314).

National District Attorneys Association (National Traffic LawCenter) Adds Commercial Motor Vehicle Senior Attorney

A S S O C I A T E M E M B E R N E W S

Kristen Shea


46


Truckers and sleep apnea. In the sleepfield, the need for treatment of thisgroup is a no-brainer. Truckers tend to bemale, middle-aged and overweight, allthree being markers for obstructive sleepapnea (OSA) in adults.

Addressing OSA in trucking poses atleast three challenges. First, the characterof the driver himself can present difficul-ties. He tends to be independent, self-reliant and just a tad suspicious of “bigbrother” tactics. Second, many truckers,particularly those who work long-haulroutes, are often on the road for days,which makes scheduling a sleep study ata clinic a nightmare. The third obstacle isthat current regulations prevent truckersdiagnosed with OSA from renewingtheir commercial driver’s licenses untilthey can demonstrate compliance withtherapy. Further, drivers are now con-cerned about a proposed regulation touse a fixed Body Mass Index minimumto determine if mandatory screening isrequired. Given the perceived expense ofdiagnosis and treatment by truckers, it isno wonder that little progress has beenmade on this increasingly visible healthand safety problem.

FMCSA is in the process of revisingthe rules for how DOT certified medicalexaminers determine if a driver is at riskfor OSA or not. The current regulation isstill in place and a new rule has not beenimplemented to replace the old one. Theproposed regulation exists now as aguideline for the certified medical exam-iners to use, but it is not yet the “law ofthe land.”

Against this backdrop, the AmericanSleep Apnea Association (ASAA), theonly national voluntary health organiza-tion dedicated to public education aboutsleep apnea and patient support, decided

to organize the first ever conference onsleep apnea and trucking. The purpose ofthe conference is to bring together all ofthe relevant stakeholders with an interestin this serious issue. This includes truck-ing company executives and the peoplewithin their organizations charged withdriver health, safety and humanresources, medical examiners, federalagency personnel, insurance companiesand the sleep community. ASAA’s goalis to achieve a common level of under-standing about OSA and to present newways to address it in trucking.

To be held May 12 at The WestinBWI near Baltimore, the meeting willhave two components. The first will pro-vide a foundation for common under-standing of the current status and issuesassociated with sleep apnea management

and trucking. The FMCSA medicaldirector, will provide an overview of cur-rent and proposed regulations governingsleep apnea and commercial drivers.Other morning presentations offer cur-rent data and needed research, the per-spective of the certified medical examin-er, and legal considerations from anattorney who specializes in defendingtrucking companies. And so everyoneunderstands the basics of the disease, aleading authority in sleep medicine willpresent a “Sleep Apnea 101” session.

The afternoon addresses the possibil-ities and challenges of sleep apnea man-agement programs in operational set-tings, specifically, diagnosis, treatmentand monitoring compliance. Startingwith the health and safety perspective ofa successfully treated and compliantdriver, the afternoon session includespresentations of innovative sleep apneamanagement programs in trucking thatare either cost-effective, convenient,and/or tailored to trucking’s uniqueneeds.

Building on these talks, executivesfrom Schneider National and J.B. Huntwill discuss the internal decision-makingand implementation processes involvedin getting a sleep apnea managementprogram off the ground and a represen-tative from OOIDA will focus on thereal-world challenges of putting a pro-gram in place for small, independentcompanies.

While a one-day conference will notaddress all of the issues associated withsleep apnea and trucking, ASAA plans tocontinue building consensus among thestakeholders and foster progress towardsafer highways for everyone. Visit theconference website at www.satc2010.orgfor more information.

Sleep Apnea & Trucking Conference: Help for a Challenging IssueBy Edward Grandi, Executive Director, American Sleep Apnea Association (ASAA)

Edward Grandi


Guardian

47

Governors Highway SafetyAssociation Annual Meeting inKansas City to Focus onTechnology

The Governors Highway Safety

Association’s (GHSA) 2010 Annual

Meeting will be held September

26-29 in Kansas City, MO. The con-

ference theme is “Technology and

Highway Safety: What’s Driving

Our Future.” The meeting will

focus on technology and specifical-

ly how highway safety practitioners

can utilize technology’s benefits

while overcoming its challenges to

achieve dramatic reductions in

fatalities. New Jersey GHSA

Member Pam Fischer is chairing

GHSA’s Annual Meeting and devel-

oping the agenda. According to

Fischer, “We know that in order to

get toward zero deaths, states

have to make better use of techno-

logical advances such as alcohol

interlocks and automated enforce-

ment. At the same time, we need

to be able to address the host of

electronic distractions in the vehi-

cle to achieve the type of dramatic

highway safety progress all of us

are working toward.”

Additional information about

the conference, including registra-

tion fees and deadlines are located

at ghsa.org.

Technology is all around us, both inour personal lives and in our work-place. It is clear from this issue ofGuardian—which by the way is ourlargest issue ever—that CVSA mem-bers and associate members havebought into the fact that it is here tostay. It is clear that all of you areusing technology in many differentways to enhance your programs andto help bring more value to youroperation, whether it is enforcementor industry. President France and Irecently attended IACP’s springmeeting strategic planning session,and the number one priority issuethey identified over the next 10 yearswas technology.

As exciting as technology is, it isjust one tool. At the end of the day itis all of us that are making decisionson how to use it, as well as the infor-mation it makes available to us.Technology is an incredible enablerfor positive change if it is used in theproper manner. I encourage all of youto continue to push the envelope onthis issue, since it offers tremendousopportunity to make dramatic impacts

on saving lives. I ask that as we moveforward in the coming years, we needto make a concerted effort to learnfrom all of these great technology ini-tiatives and share the good, the badand the ugly with each other. Whilewe will make some mistakes along theway, if we communicate the lessonslearned from our efforts we will all bebetter off in the long run.

The last 20 years has seen a tremen-dous growth in technology, which, inmany respects has been the key driverof change in all aspects of our lives. Ithas accelerated globalization, providedaccess to all kinds of informationinstantaneously and has changed theworld forever. Change is inevitable,and we need to embrace it. PresidentJohn F. Kennedy once said, “Change isthe law of life. And those who lookonly to the past or present are certainto miss the future.”

It is encouraging to see all thegreat things that are going on withour members and associate memberswith respect to how they are usingtechnology to further their needs. Ittruly is having a real impact on fur-thering CVSA’s mission. I also wantto thank our federal agency partnerswho are investing much time, energyand funding into various technologyresearch, evaluation and deploymentprojects in support of needs expressedby enforcement and industry. I com-mend all of you who going the extramile and taking the chance to effectpositive change, you truly exemplifythe a tenet of CVSA’s mission and oneof our core values—leadership. Keepup the great work, and as one ofCVSA’s past presidents Don Bridgeoften says, Godspeed!

Executive Director’s MessageBy Stephen A. Keppler, CVSA, Interim Executive Director

Stephen A. Keppler


PRESIDENTFrancis (Buzzy) FranceMaryland State Police

VICE PRESIDENT Capt. Steve DowlingCalifornia Highway Patrol

SECRETARY/TREASURER Maj. David PalmerTexas Department of Public Safety

CVSA Executive Committee andCommittee Chairs

REGION PRESIDENTS Region I Sgt. David MedeirosRhode Island State Police

Region II Capt. Bruce BuggGeorgia Department of Public Safety

Region III Capt. Mark SavageColorado State Patrol

Region IV Lt. Bruce PolleiUtah Highway Patrol

Region V Steve CallahanAlberta Transportation, Commercial Vehicle

Enforcement

LOCAL PRESIDENT Tom JacquesPittsburgh Police Department

REGION VICE PRESIDENTS (Non-Voting)Region I Lt. Thomas KellyMaine State Police

Region II Capt. Craig MedcalfOklahoma Highway Patrol

Region III Alan MartinPublic Utilities Commission of Ohio

Region IV Capt. Chris MayrantNew Mexico Department of Public Safety

Region V Reg WightmanManitoba Infrastructure and Transportation

LOCAL VICE PRESIDENTVacant

PAST PRESIDENTS Darren E. Christle, Manitoba Infrastructure

and TransportationCapt. John E. Harrison, Georgia Department

of Public SafetyLt. Donald Bridge, Jr., Connecticut

Department of Motor Vehicles

GOVERNMENT NON-VOTING MEMBERS William (Bill) Quade, Federal Motor Carrier

Safety Administration (FMCSA) William (Bill) Arrington, Transportation

Security Administration (TSA)Peter Hurst, Canadian Council of Motor Transport

Administrators (CCMTA), CRA ChairFrancisco Quintero, Secretaria de

Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT)Adolfo Spinola, Secretarìa de Seguridad Publica,

Policìa Federal Preventiva

ASSOCIATE NON-VOTING MEMBER Larry Woolum, Chair Associate AdvisoryCommittee, Ohio Trucking Association

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Associate Advisory Committee Larry WoolumOhio Trucking Association

Driver-Traffic Enforcement Committee Capt. Gerry KrolikowskiNebraska State Patrol

Hazardous Materials Committee Capt. Bruce BuggGeorgia Department of Public Safety

Information Systems Committee Capt. William ( Jake) ElovirtaVermont Department of Motor Vehicles

Intelligent Transportation SystemsCommittee Cpl. Rick KoontzPennsylvania State Police

North American Inspectors Championship Committee M/Tpr. R.C. PowellVirginia State Police

Passenger Carrier Committee Timothy DavisMassachusetts Department of Public Utilities

Program Initiatives Committee Sgt. William (Don) RhodesSouth Carolina State Transport Police

Size and Weight Committee Capt. Gary AlbusTexas Department of Public Safety

Training Committee Sgt. Raymond WeissNew York State Police

Vehicle Committee Kerri WirachowskyOntario Ministry of Transportation

48


Guardian

49

Guardian

49

R A D I N S P E C T I O N N E W S

Level VI Classes Scheduled for 2010

Under a cooperative agreement with theU.S. DOE, CVSA has scheduled theLevel VI Classes for 2010 to certifyinspectors to conduct Level VI inspec-tions on all transuranic waste andHighway Route Controlled Quantities(HRCQ) of radioactive materials.CVSA provides Level VI training toinspectors who meet the prerequisite ofbeing Level I and HazMat certified.The following are the remaining classesscheduled for 2010:

■ Springfield, IL–May 17–20

■ Nashville, TN–July 12-15

■ Albany, NY–August 9-12

■ Sacramento, CA–September 27-30

■ Vaughn, NM–October 18-22

■ Austin, TX–November 8-11

■ Austin, TX–January 12-13, 2011Level VI “Train the Trainer” Course

Any state interested in hosting a classor needs inspectors trained is asked tocontact Larry D. Stern, DirectorLevel VI Program, at [email protected] 304-292-1601.

RAD Inspection News is madepossible under a CooperativeAgreement with the U.S.Department of Energy.

Experiment at WIPP MayUnlock Secrets of the Universe

Scientists hope that the Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO) at WIPP will explainthings about the universe that Galileo Galilei may never have imagined. EXO is aparticle physics experiment that aims to measure the mass of a subatomic particlecalled a neutrino. The observatory, located underground at WIPP, takes advantage ofthe low background radiation environment. The 2,150-foot repository, mined out ofan ancient salt bed, shields the observatory from cosmic and naturally occurring back-ground radiation.

The final component of the EXO observatory, called the Time Projection Chamber(TPC), arrived at WIPP inside of a solid concrete transport container to protect it fromnaturally occurring radiation on its journey from California to New Mexico. Exposureto the sensitive TPC could compromise EXO results.

So what exactly is the TPC?According to Jesse Wodin, a research associate from SLAC National AcceleratorLaboratory, the TPC is one of the most sensitive radiation detection devices everbuilt. The chamber fabricated at Stanford University over the last two years isdesigned to detect an extremely rare radiation process known as neutrino-lessdouble beta decay.

Wodin explained that the TPC is filled with liquid xenon-136 and outfitted withwires and sensitive light detectors that can indicate whether the rare radioactive decayprocess is occurring.

“Observing this rare decay teaches us about the elusive subatomic particle called aneutrino,” Wodin said. “This in turn will teach us about stars, galaxies, supernovae(exploding stars) and perhaps why the universe is made of matter instead of anti-matter.”

June 2010 is the projected start date for the experiment to begin.


A Blue Ribbon Commission, led by LeeHamilton and Brent Scowcroft, will pro-vide recommendations on managingused fuel and nuclear waste.

As part of the Obama Administration’scommitment to restart American’s nuclearindustry, U.S. Secretary of Energy StevenChu announced the formation of a BlueRibbon Commission on American’s NuclearFuture to provide recommendations fordeveloping a safe, long-term solution tomanaging the nation’s used nuclear fuel andnuclear waste. The Commission is being co-chaired by former Rep. Lee Hamilton andformer National Security Advisor BrentScowcroft.

In light of the Administration’s decisionnot to proceed with the Yucca Mountainnuclear waste repository, President Obamahas directed Secretary Chu to establish theCommission to conduct a comprehensivereview of policies for managing the backend of the nuclear fuel cycle. TheCommission will provide advice and makerecommendations on issues includingalternative for the storage, processing, anddisposal of civilian and defense spentnuclear fuel and nuclear waste.

“Nuclear energy provides clean, safe,

reliable power and has an important roleto play as we build a low-carbon future.The Administration is committed to pro-moting nuclear power in the UnitedStates and developing a safe, long-termsolution for the management of usednuclear fuel and nuclear waste. The workof the Blue Ribbon Commission will beinvaluable to this process. I want to thankCongressman Hamilton and GeneralScowcroft for leading the Commissionand I look forward to receiving their rec-ommendations,” said Secretary Chu.

“As the world moves to tackle climatechange and diversify our national energyportfolio, nuclear energy will play a vital

role,” said Carol Browner, Assistant tothe President for Energy and ClimateChange. With the creation of the BlueRibbon Commission, we are bringingtogether leading experts from around thecountry to ensure a safe and sustainablenuclear energy future.”

“Finding an acceptable long-termsolution to our used nuclear fuel andnuclear waste storage needs is vital to theeconomic, environmental and securityinterests of the United States,” said Rep.Hamilton. “This will be a thorough,comprehensive review based on the bestavailable science. I’m looking forward toworking with the many distinguishedexperts on this panel to achieve a consen-sus on the best path forward.”

“As the United States responds to cli-mate change and moves forward with along overdue expansion of nuclear energy,we also need to work together to find aresponsible, long-term strategy to deal withthe leftover fuel and nuclear waste,” saidGeneral Scowcroft. “I’m pleased to be partof that effort along with CongressmanHamilton and such an impressive group ofscientific and industry experts.”

The Commission is made up of 15

50

Secretary Chu Announces Blue RibbonCommission on American’s Nuclear Future


Level VI Inspection Data Online State by State

You can now obtain the most up-to-date Level VI inspec-tion data for the National and State programs online at theFMCSA’s Motor Carrier Analysis and InformationResources at their website — http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SafetyProgram/RoadsideInspections.aspx. You can obtainthe total summary of the Level I, II, III, IV, V, and VI forRoadside Inspection. Click on WIPP Inspections andViolations to obtain the data on Level VI Inspections forthe nation and by individual states.

The Administration is committed to promoting nuclear power in theUnited States and developing asafe, long-term solution for the

management of used nuclear fueland nuclear waste. The work ofthe Blue Ribbon Commission will

be invaluable to this process.


Guardian

51

R A D I N S P E C T I O N N E W S

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) ship-

ments are expected to begin traveling out

of the east coast and through the mid-west

en route to the Idaho National Laboratory.

Representatives from the U.S. DOE-

Carlsbad Field Office recently met with

state official in Ohio and Indiana to discuss

these shipments. The meetings were

scheduled by the Council of State

Governments-Midwestern Office to discuss

shipments from NRD, LLC in Grand Island,

NY. Scheduled to begin in mid-2011, the

shipments will travel to the Idaho National

Laboratory for confirmation and then to

WIPP for permanent disposal.

The meetings focused on the safe

transportation of defense-generated

transuranic waste, as well as the overall

WIPP facility and its mission. Topics dis-

cussed included the proposed route, and

first responder training and vehicle inspec-

tions. Prior to the first shipment from NRD,

WIPP will train first responders along the

route on how to respond to an incident/

accident involving a WIPP shipment. To

date, WIPP has safely transported over

8,200 shipments and traveled more than

9.8 million loaded miles.

Preparing for WIPP

Shipments

members who have a range of expert-ise and experience in nuclear issues,including scientists, industry represen-tatives, and respected former electedofficials. The Commission’s co-chairshave a record of tackling tough chal-

lenges in a thoughtful, comprehensivemanner and building consensusamong an array of interests.

The Commission will produce aninterim report within 18 months and afinal report within 24 months.

Members of the Blue Ribbon Commission

Lee Hamilton, Co-Chair—Lee Hamilton represented Indiana’s 9th congressional districtfrom January 1965-January 1999. During his time in Congress, Hamilton served as theranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and chaired thePermanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He is currently president and directorof the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and director of the Centeron Congress at Indiana University. He is a member of the President’s IntelligenceAdvisory Board and the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council. Previously,Hamilton served as Vice Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacksupon the United States (the 9/11 Commission).

Brent Scowcroft, Co-Chair—Brent Scowcroft is President of the Scowcroft Group, aninternational business advisory firm. He has served as the National Security Advisorto both Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, from 1982 to 1989; he wasVice Chairman of Kissinger Associates, Inc., an international consulting firm.Scowcroft served in the military for 29 years, and concluded at the rank ofLieutenant General following service as the Deputy National Security Advisor. Outof uniform, he continued in a public policy capacity by serving on the President’sAdvisory Committee on Arms Control, the Commission on Strategic Forces, and thePresident’s Special Review Board, also known as the Tower Commission.

Mark Ayers, President, Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO.Vicky Bailey, Former Commissioner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Former

IN PUC Commissioner; Former Department of energy Assistant Secretary for Policyand International Affairs.

Albert Carnesale, Chancellor Emeritus and Professor, UCLA.Pete V. Domenici, Senior Fellow, Bipartisan Policy Center; former U.S. Senator (R-NM)Susan Eisenhower, President, Eisenhower Group, Inc.Chuck Hagel, Former U.S. Senator (R-NE).Jonathan Lash, President, World Resources Institute.Allison Macfarlane, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, George

Mason University.Richard A. Meserve, President, Carnegie Institution for Science, and former Chairman,

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.Ernie Moniz, Professor of Physics and Cecil & Ida Green Distinguished Professor,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Per Peterson, Professor and Chair, department of Nuclear Engineering, University of

California-Berkeley.John Rowe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Exelon Corporation.Phil Sharp, President, Resources for the Future.


52


CVSA Conducts Level VITrain the Trainer Coursein Phoenix

Representatives from 24 states participated

in CVSA’s Level VI Train the Trainer Course

was held in Phoenix, AZ, February 24

and 25. The students were from the

Massachusetts State Police, North Carolina

Highway Patrol, New Mexico Motor

Transportation Police, Maryland State

Police, Washington State Patrol, Arizona

Department of Public Safety, Nevada

Highway Patrol, Colorado State Patrol,

Kansas Highway Patrol, Minnesota DOT,

Oregon DOT, South Carolina State

Transport Police, Michigan State Police,

Iowa Office Motor Vehicle Enforcement,

Nebraska State Patrol, and Virginia State

Police. The Level VI National Instructors in

attendance were: Carlisle Smith and Rob

Rohr, Ohio PUC; Tom Fuller, New York State

Police, Rion Stann, Pennsylvania State

Police; Todd Armstrong, Illinois State

Police, Tony Anderson, Idaho State Police,

Reggie Bunner, West Virginia PSC; and Pat

Fiori, California Highway Patrol.

Train the Trainer students were given

the latest updates to the Level VI Training

Course and were assigned a Level VI train-

ing module to teach before the group

before they were critiqued by members of

the National Level VI Instructors.

Attending and participating in this

course enables students to return to their

jurisdictions and provide the Level VI

refresher training to their Level VI certified

officers so they will be able to maintain

their Level VI certification.

Level VI Public Outreach Effective in EducatingPublic on DOE Shipments as One of the SafestModes of Transportation in the Country

CVSA’s Level VI Public Outreach Program combined with information provided onCVSA’s web site is proving to be an effective tool in educating the public about theU.S. Department of Energy radioactive shipments.

Duane Sammons, the Level VI Public Outreach Coordinator, will be discussing theprogram’s effectiveness at the following meetings in 2010:

• U.S. DOE’s National Transportation Stakeholders ForumChicago, IL— May 25-27

• Contractors Transportation Management Association (CTMA) MeetingPortland, OR—June 21-24

• National Association of County Officials (NACO)Reno, NV—July 16-20

• Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA)Kansas City, MO—September 26-30

WIPP SHIPMENTS RECEIVED as of March 1, 2010

Site Shipments Loaded Miles

Argonne National Laboratory 42 71,613

GE Vallecitos Nuclear Center 32 44,800

Idaho National Laboratory 3,946 5,490,048

Los Alamos National Laboratory 592 202,464

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 18 24,804

Nevada Test Site 48 57,312

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 30 40,290

Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site 2,045 1,446,444

Hanford Site 432 781,056

Savannah River Site 1,090 1,664,432

Total to WIPP 8,275 9,823,263

Visit CVSA’s Level VI Website for the LatestProgram Information and Online Blog…

for the most up-to-date information on the CVSA’s Level VI Inspection Program, the

minutes of the RAM Subcommittee, Level VI training and public outreach sched-

ules, and other information. Also, you can ask questions concerning the Level VI

Inspection Program on the Level VI Online Forum (blog). Visit www.cvsa.org, click

on the Level VI radiation symbol, and you are in the Level VI website.


Academy Express, LLCAMBEST, Inc.

Bestway Express, Inc.Boyle Transportation

Brown Line, LLCCambridge Systematics, Inc.Compliance Safety Systems

DATTCO, Inc.

DiSilva CompaniesG & D Trucking, Inc. / Hoffman

Transportation, LLCGreyhound Lines, Inc.

Greyhound Canada TransportationCorporation

James Burg Trucking CompanyLynden, Inc.

Motor Transport Association of Connecticut, Inc.

New Jersey Motor Truck AssociationRegistrar of Imported Vehicles

RegScan, Inc.Rubber Manufacturers Association

The Besl Transfer Co.Travel and Transport

Universal Truckload Services, Inc.YRC Worldwide, Inc

ABF Freight System, Inc.Arizona Trucking Association

Austin Powder CompanyContinental CorporationCovenant Transport, Inc.

Daecher Consulting Group, Inc.Groendyke Transport, Inc.

HELP, Inc.Intermodal Association of North AmericaInternational Road Dynamics, Inc. (IRD)

LandstarOhio Trucking Association

Schlumberger Technology Corporation STEMCO

SYSCO CorporationTML Information Services, Inc.

Transport Service Co.United Motorcoach Association Vehicle Inspection Systems, Inc.

A & R Transport, Inc.DEKRA America, Inc.

Great West Casualty CompanyJ.J. Keller & Associates, Inc.

May Trucking CompanyMercer Transportation Company

Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA)R+L Carriers

Shell Oil Products, USSpecialized Carriers & Rigging Association

Tyson Foods, Inc.

2010 CVSA SPONSORSDIAMOND

RSC Equipment Rental U-Haul International

BENEFACTOR

Dibble Trucking, Inc. Mid-West Truckers Association

PLATINUM

GOLD

SILVER

BRONZE

American Trucking Associations(ATA)

FedEx Corporation PrePass


SPONSORED BY THE FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY

ADMINISTRATION AND THE COMMERCIAL VEHICLE SAFETY ALLIANCE

MONDAYAUGUST 2

toSUNDAYAUGUST 8

2010COLUMBUSO H I O

CALENDAR OFEVENTS2010 CVSA WORKSHOPApril 19-21, 2010San Antonio, TX

5TH ANNUAL FMCSA MCSAP LEADERSHIP CONFERENCEApril 22, 2010San Antonio, TX

NORTH AMERICAN CARGOSECUREMENT HARMONIZATION PUBLIC FORUMApril 22, 2010San Antonio, TX

ROADCHECK 2010June 8-10, 2010

NAIC 2010August 2-8, 2010Columbus, OH

SUMMER EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETINGAugust 3, 2010Columbus, OH

BRAKE SAFETY WEEK 2010September 12-18, 2010

2010 CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL COMMERCIAL VEHICLE SAFETY SUMMITSeptember 19, 2010Anaheim, CA

2010 CVSA ANNUAL CONFERENCESeptember 20-23, 2010Anaheim, CA

OPERATION SAFE DRIVER 2010October 17-23, 2010

VISIT WWW.CVSA.ORG FOR EVENT DETAILS

3542_Guardian_2Q10 4/9/10 12:41 PM Page a

cvsa guardian 4th quarter 2010

Documents

roadside enforcement

new mexico

brake efficiency

foundation of csa

approvals program

national training

newsroadside data

service orders