Archive for month: November, 2012

Recently, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released an audit showing that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) isn’t doing enough to keep “chameleon carriers” off the roads. Chameleon companies are those that simply change their names, but their vehicles and drivers stay the same. While this isn’t always a problem, a big issue develops when companies get into trouble, shut down, change their name, submit a new carrier application and are allowed to get back on the road almost immediately. Read more

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) recently dubbed its “Gear Up for Clean Truck Month” a “success.” The campaign was a month-long campaign that took place this past August. During the campaign, CARB audited numerous diesel trucks and issued fleet citations in an effort to assure that trucks were complying with the sates’ air pollution laws. These highly visible events, held throughout the state, also showed the public that the agency is serious about enforcing its pollution regulations. The agency was basically saying that if you’re a California trucking company, you better play by the rules. Read more

The use of smart-phone apps is on the rise in the trucking industry. More and more apps are even being created specifically for the industry itself. GreenRoad has recently introduced another app that could prove beneficial to the industry. The company recently introduced a smart-phone-based app for Android devices called “Asimov.” GreenRoad claims that the app will efficiently assess driver performance for trucking fleets. The app measures risky or inefficient driving by looking at 5 things: acceleration, braking, cornering, speeding and lane handling. This could be beneficial to companies involved in freight shipping in Los Angeles. TL and LTL shipping practices may be conducted safer and more efficiently. Read more

Truck drivers aren’t exactly fans of traffic. It wastes time and causes way more stress than it should. There’s definitely nothing fun and exciting about sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. But it seems like the trucking industry is beginning to focus on another type of traffic issue: human trafficking. You may now be thinking to yourself ‘What in the world can truckers do about human trafficking?’ It turns out that truckers can play an important role. Read more