Arkansas Trucking Association

ATA Bids Farewell to Kidd

After serving as president of the Arkansas Trucking Association (ATA) for 22 years, Lane Kidd announced in a joint statement with ATA, plans to leave the organization to devote his full energies to The Kidd Group, LLC, a business investment and public affairs firm he created in 2013.

“I’ve wanted to pursue my own projects for some time now and there are many opportunities out there, so this feels like a good time to say goodbye to the ATA,” said Lane Kidd. “My career as ATA president has been a phenomenal experience, and I’m handing the keys over with ATA looking much better than it did 22 years ago.”

Conflicting Reports Study CSA Accuracy, Fairness

Days following the release of a study conducted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed significant flaws in the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released its own study findings to the contrary.

The GAO report, “Modifying the Compliance, Safety, Accountability Program Would Improve the Ability to Identify High Risk Carriers,” supports many of the objections cited by the program’s critics, including: Inconsistency between states’ inspection and enforcement practices; Weak association of Safety Measurement System (SMS) scores to crash risk; Indications that a minority of carriers in a single SMC group are responsible for all crashes in that group; among other concerns.

Another Study, More Speculation

A few days before the GAO and FMCSA released conflicting reports on CSA, the FMCSA was met with criticism for its findings following a study indicating the agency’s current hours-of-service rule is more effective at combating fatigue, a conclusion that trucking groups and several members of Congress immediately disputed.

The final 2011 hours rule, which became effective July 1, requires a driver’s restart to be at least 34 consecutive hours and include two periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.

The study, conducted by the Sleep and Performance Research Center, Washington State University and Pulsar Informatics Inc., looked at 106 commercial drivers employed by three carriers providing 1,260 days of data, driving a total of more than 414,000 miles from January to July 2013.