Law enforcement in Southeastern states launched a 100-day campaign June 18 focused on traffic safety. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Southeast Region has ask each highway patrol, commercial vehicle enforcement agency and local law enforcement agency to focus efforts on reducing annual accidents and fatalities resulting from speeding, impaired driving or failure to wear safety belts.
A Chicago businessman and three of his former employees are facing federal charges for allegedly helping at least 600 ineligible individuals from Illinois and other states fraudulently obtain regular and commercial driver’s licenses in Wisconsin. The charges represent an expansion of Operation Safe Road, a six-year-old Chicago-based investigation that previously has exposed fraud in state licensing systems in Illinois and Florida.
California Senate has passed a bill that would penalize motorists for unsafe driving resulting from distracting activities, including smoking, eating, drinking, grooming, stereo adjustments and use of a cell phone – even a hands-free model. First-time offenders could be fined $35.
Deborah Hersman has been sworn in as a member of the National Transportation Safety Board. Hersman previously was a senior professional staff member of the Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and was involved in the passage of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 and other key legislation in transportation.
Research and Special Programs Administration has delayed until Jan. 1, 2005, the effective date of an October 2003 rule clarifying the applicability of the hazardous materials regulations to loading, unloading and storage operations. The original effective was Oct. 1, 2004. For more information, visit this site and search Docket No. 4952.
Iteris Inc. announced that it has developed retrofit kits for installation of its lane departure warning system on various models of Volvo, Peterbilt and Kenworth Class 8 trucks. The system already is available as an aftermarket installation on various International truck models and as a factory-installed option on Freightliner Class 8 trucks.
FleetRisk Advisors, a provider of risk-management services for the transportation industry, has obtained the license to use Circadian’s Circadian Alertness Simulator software to predict patterns of driver fatigue and alertness. Circadian is a consulting firm specializing in extended-hours operations.
