FMCSA Rule and Regulatory Changes—Looking Ahead in 2024
Gear up for FMCSA's 2024 updates. From proposed CSA changes to speed limiter mandates, stay ahead in safety & compliance.
Since 2010, The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has used its current Safety Measurement System (SMS) to identify motor carriers for safety interventions. And now there is a recommendation to enhance how motor carrier data is used to improve safety on the road by identifying companies that need the most intervention and helping to influence safer behaviors for all carriers.
Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies collect data from commercial fleets and drivers, ultimately for the purpose of making the nation's highways safer. Information is collected from a variety of sources—most notably during roadside inspections but also from Department of Transportation (DOT) recordable crashes, audits/investigations, and fleet registrations.
Effective January 6, 2023, motor carriers are no longer required to manually reach out to a prospective CDL driver’s previous employer to enquire about drug and alcohol related information. This date marks three years since the rollout of the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse, which is now considered fully implemented.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau, NICB, counted just 3,969 reports of stolen catalytic converters in 2019, more than 17,000 in 2020, and more than 52,000 last year. One could speculate that there is a connection with the pandemic and recent inflation. The NICB offers several prevention tips, including parking in a secure area, installing motion sensor lights in the front of your home, and installing an anti-theft device for the catalytic converter on the vehicle.
The goal of the Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) mandate is to create safer roads and highways by ensuring truck drivers have received adequate training. This includes ensuring both CDL training providers and applicants meet a minimum national standard.
