As “Going Green” continues to be a hot topic for the transportation industry, many states have been actively adding and enforcing idling regulations. Fuel conservation is clearly one of the best and easiest ways for fleets to not only reduce their impact on the environment, but also reduce costs. Aside from moving to alternative fuels, reduced idling will have a dramatic reduction in fuel consumption. Details on the laws in many states can be found here: http://www.atri-online.org/research/idling/2007_atri_idlingcompendium_secure.pdf
To learn more ways to Go Green with your fleet, check out the recent webcast by SmartWay and Cadec – Top Five Ways to Go Green With Fleet Management.
Author: Karl Olson
Friday, January 4, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Coming soon: Mandatory On-Board Computers/EOBRs?
On December 19,2007 the Senate transportation committee conducted a hearing on the FMCSA Interim final rule concerning Hours of Service. The hearing aired on C-SPAN and can be viewed here:
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=203138-1
A couple of points which seem to be worthy of comment: At about the 52nd minute the conversation turns to mandatory use of EOBRs. With all panel members from both sides of the issue speaking in favor of them and Senator Frank Lautenberg calling the decision for mandatory EOBRs a “no-brainer” (his actual words!). He also made reference to an NTSB call for 100% mandatory EOBRs. The NTSB recommendation from December 17, 2007 can be found here: http://www.ntsb.gov/Recs/letters/2007/H07_41_42.pdf
Dave Osiecki of the ATA talks about studies which show that the average 34 hour reset is actually about 49 hours and only 27% of drivers report driving in the 11th hour. He also says that the number of trucks registered in the US is up but the number of miles travelled has remained constant at about 222-223 billion miles/year, indicating that trucks are travelling less.
Byrd (from the Teamsters Union) and Krupski (from OOIDA) agreed that ECMs should be set govern speed to 68 (Cadec EOBRs used with either Mobius or PowerVue can monitor speed to any set level)
And curiously in the entire discussion of big truck fatalities and accidents, no mention was made of whether the fault was with the “tired” driver or if the other driver was at fault.
Author: Karl Olson
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=203138-1
A couple of points which seem to be worthy of comment: At about the 52nd minute the conversation turns to mandatory use of EOBRs. With all panel members from both sides of the issue speaking in favor of them and Senator Frank Lautenberg calling the decision for mandatory EOBRs a “no-brainer” (his actual words!). He also made reference to an NTSB call for 100% mandatory EOBRs. The NTSB recommendation from December 17, 2007 can be found here: http://www.ntsb.gov/Recs/letters/2007/H07_41_42.pdf
Dave Osiecki of the ATA talks about studies which show that the average 34 hour reset is actually about 49 hours and only 27% of drivers report driving in the 11th hour. He also says that the number of trucks registered in the US is up but the number of miles travelled has remained constant at about 222-223 billion miles/year, indicating that trucks are travelling less.
Byrd (from the Teamsters Union) and Krupski (from OOIDA) agreed that ECMs should be set govern speed to 68 (Cadec EOBRs used with either Mobius or PowerVue can monitor speed to any set level)
And curiously in the entire discussion of big truck fatalities and accidents, no mention was made of whether the fault was with the “tired” driver or if the other driver was at fault.
Author: Karl Olson
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