Trucking news and briefs for Monday, June 1, 2020:
Motion picture group gets CDL Clearinghouse waiver
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has granted a waiver from certain CDL Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse requirements to a group representing carriers that provide transportation services to and from theatrical, commercial, television and motion picture production sites.
Motion Picture Compliance Solutions requested in March that its member companies not be required to conduct a full query of the clearinghouse when hiring a driver, but instead conduct limited queries before one of its member companies hires a driver for a project.
FMCSA granted the waiver because the group operates its own DOT Violation Database, similar to FMCSA’s Clearinghouse, for its member carriers to check the status of more than 12,000 drivers who operate within the motion picture industry. MPCS said in its request that drivers often haul for multiple carriers in a week, and sometimes more than one in a single day, due to the nature of the industry.
When conducting limited queries of FMCSA’s Clearinghouse, if a MPCS member company finds there is information on a driver in the database, they must then conduct a full query of the Clearinghouse.
Nearly 3,000 Western Star trucks recalled for wiring issue
Daimler Trucks North America is recalling approximately 2,987 Western Star trucks due to potentially faulty wiring, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documents.
Affected trucks include model year 2019-2021 Western Star 4700 and 5700 models. The recall says that a particular wire in the ground harness may be undersized, possibly resulting in a melted connector in the ground circuit harness. If the connector becomes damaged, under certain circumstances, the engine may stall without the ability to restart.
Daimler estimates about 12% of trucks included in the recall have the defect.
DTNA will notify owners, and dealers will replace the ground harness for free. Owners can contact DTNA customer service at 1-800-547-0712 with recall number FL-852. NHTSA’s recall number is 20V-281.
