Arkansas Trucking Association

New York City drivers will be the first in the nation to pay cordon congestion pricing, beginning in 2020. The pricing plan is intended to reduce traffic by charging drivers who enter the city’s business district. Cordon pricing charges drivers to enter a congested area. While other U.S. cities have variably priced lanes and facilities to control congestion, New York City is the first to implement cordon pricing.

New York City has some of the most congested streets in the country. The gridlock is especially challenging for emergency vehicles that maneuver through the city to save lives and respond to crises.

The exact price point is still undecided, but the once-a-day charge is predicted to raise $1 billion each year for public transportation.

According to a recent study by the American Transportation Research Institute, female drivers pose lower crash risks.

In its most recent Crash Predictor Model, which statistically quantifies the likelihood of future crash involvement based on specific truck driving behaviors, ATRI found that female truck drivers were determined to be safer than male counterparts in every statistically significant safety behavior, with men 20% more likely to be involved in a crash.

Volvo announced it is installing cameras inside its vehicles to monitor driver behavior and intervene if the driver appears to be drunk or distracted.

The cameras will monitor eye movements to gauge distraction. If a driver isn’t watching the road or fails to keep their hands on the steering wheel, they will get a call from a representative from Volvo’s on-call assistance centers to check in. And if a driver doesn’t respond, the car can slow down and stop.

The Arkansas Trucking Association is pleased to announce the 2019 recipient of the Carl Tapp Memorial Scholarship Fund. High school senior Ryan McKnight of West Fork High School will receive $7,500 to pursue training for a career in medium/heavy duty truck technology.

“Arkansas relies on the trucking industry as a major employer in the state. One in twelve working Arkansans have a career in our industry. It is vital to the state’s economy that we capture the right talent and make the highly skilled training accessible to trucking’s future technicians,” says Shannon Newton, president of the Arkansas Trucking Association. “This year’s scholarship recipient will someday be caring for the machines we share the road with every day, and we wish him well in their education and careers because their success is our safety.”

Amazon recently patented a plan to turn public buses into mobile delivery stations.

As buses lose ridership to Lyft and Uber, Amazon proposes an additional use for the vehicles. A removable delivery module would be attached to the bus, from which customers could pick up their packages at stops along the bus’s route.

The National Safety Council released a new report on preventable deaths that found, for the first time on record, the odds of dying from an accidental opioid overdose are greater than dying in a motor vehicle crash.

Americans now have a 1 in 96 chance of dying from an opioid overdose, according to the council's analysis of 2017 data on accidental death. The probability of dying in a motor vehicle crash is 1 in 103.

The American Transportation Research Institute released an analysis of the impacts that emerging e-commerce trends are having on the trucking industry, including the challenges and opportunities that more regionalized retail supply chains and the proliferation of urban “last mile” deliveries have presented.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Thomas Donohue has launched a contest for the “best, most viable ideas” for long-term, sustainable funding for infrastructure improvements. The winner will earn $25,000.

“As everyone knows, the challenge is how to pay for it,” Donohue said on Jan. 10.

The Chamber has lobbied for a 25 cent  increase in the fuel tax over five years to raise the funds for infrastructure maintenance and modernization, but raising the fuel tax, which hasn’t changed since 1993, has been unpopular politically in recent history.

The U.S. is not the only one with a driver shortage problem. The Ontario Trucking Association in Canada is calling on the provincial government to launch a pilot program that would allow freight carriers to bring in immigrant workers to fill a critical driver shortage.

The driver shortage across the border is caused by the same problems faced in the U.S. like an aging workforce.

Researchers from the University of Arkansas and Northeastern University released the results of a study on the effects of the electronic logging device mandate and found that since the mandate went into effect, hours of service compliance has increased and so has the frequency of speeding violations. The rate of truck crashes has not seemed to be affected by the mandate.

The report supposes that the speeding increases are due to drivers making up for productivity losses caused by complying with hours of service regulations.

On Jan. 31, Pres. Donald Trump signed an executive order to encourage the purchase of more American-made products on federal infrastructure projects.

The executive order, “Strengthening Buy American Preferences for Infrastructure Projects,” directs executive department and agency heads to encourage recipients of federal funds to “use, to the greatest extent practicable, iron and aluminum as well as, steel, cent, and other manufactured products produced in the United States in every contract, subcontract, purchase order, or sub award that is chargeable against such Federal financial assistant award.” The executive order also requires a report of opportunities to maximize Buy American principles be made available to the President by May 31, 2019.

Arkansas Trucking Association praises the 27 state senators and 71 representatives who have voted over the past two weeks in support of legislation that will generate an additional $95 million annually for highways. A success years in the making, the funding is part of Governor Asa Hutchinson's proposed plan to bring in an additional $417 million total annually for infrastructure, with $300 million of that going to the Arkansas Department of Transportation. 

"This is a victory for everyone who relies on Arkansas highways, rural roads, city streets and bridges," said Arkansas Trucking Association President Shannon Newton.  "It prioritizes safety and the efficient movement of commerce throughout the state.  We are grateful to the lawmakers who voted in support of funding our state's infrastructure."