Trucking news and briefs for Wednesday, July 24, 2024:
NTSB raises concerns over marijuana rescheduling
The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday responded to a proposed rule by the Drug Enforcement Administration to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, warning the rule could imperil federally required drug testing for truck drivers, airline pilots and others in safety-sensitive positions.
The NTSB said it’s “particularly concerned that the proposed rule would prevent testing for marijuana use by safety-sensitive employees” who are subject to either the U.S. DOT drug testing under 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 40 or to federal workplace drug testing under U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Mandatory Guidelines.
In a response to the proposed rulemaking, the NTSB urged the DEA to “ensure that any final rule to reschedule marijuana does not compromise marijuana testing under DOT and HHS procedures applicable to safety-sensitive transportation employees. Such employees include airline pilots, airline maintenance workers, bus and truck drivers, locomotive engineers, subway train operators, ship captains, pipeline operators, personnel transporting hazardous materials, air traffic controllers, and others.”
[Related: How would federal rescheduling of marijuana affect trucking?]
According to the NTSB, moving marijuana to Schedule III without taking steps to ensure that marijuana testing remains within the scope of pre-employment, random, reasonable suspicion, and post-accident drug testing would create a safety “blind spot.”
“Removal of marijuana testing from DOT and HHS drug testing panels for safety-sensitive transportation employees would remove a layer of safety oversight that employers have been managing for decades, and it would prevent DOT and HHS drug testing from acting as a deterrent to marijuana use by those employees,” the NTSB said. “Additionally, the NTSB would no longer have DOT and federal workplace marijuana test results as evidence in our investigations.”
DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg last month responded to similar concerns during a Congressional hearing, DOT drug screening rules would not be impacted by the DEA’s move. For private individuals performing safety-sensitive functions subject to drug testing, Buttigieg noted, marijuana is identified by name, not by reference to schedule or classification. "So even if it moves in its classification, we do not believe that would have a direct impact on that authority," he said.
[Related: DOT: Marijuana still a no-no for truck drivers, even if it's reclassified]
Truck tonnage down in June but up for Q2
ATA's For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 1.6% in June after increasing 3% in May.ATA
Despite a dip in tonnage hauled in June from May, the American Trucking Associations’ Truck Tonnage Index was higher on average in the second quarter from the first quarter.
ATA’s advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 1.6% in June after increasing 3% in May. In June, the index equaled 113.5 (2015=100) compared with 115.3 in May.
“While giving back some of the gain from May, it appears that truck freight tonnage is slowly going in the right direction since hitting a recent low in January,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Despite June’s decline, the second quarter average was 0.2% above the first quarter and only 0.2% below the second quarter in 2023, which are good signs that truck freight might be finally turning the corner.”
Compared with June 2023, the index decreased 0.4%. In May, the index was up 1% from a year earlier, which was the first year-over-year gain since February 2023.
The not seasonally adjusted index, which represents the change in tonnage actually hauled by the fleets before any seasonal adjustment, equaled 113.1 in June, 5.5% below May. ATA’s For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index is dominated by contract freight as opposed to traditional spot market freight.
FMCSA grants waiver allowing mirror-alternative cameras
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has granted a waiver allowing motor carriers to use a company’s rear-view camera system as an alternative to the two rear-view mirrors required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs).
Fleets and operators can now use Convoy Technologies’ Electronic Rear View System (ERVS) as a mirror alternative. Convoy requested the waiver back in February.
In granting the exemption, FMCSA said the system is likely to achieve the same level of safety as the traditional mirrors required in the FMCSRs.
A similar exemption has been in place since 2019 for Stoneridge and its MirrorEye Camera Monitor System.
