Operation Airbrake is a comprehensive campaign designed to help educate drivers and technicians on brake safety, encourage brake safety compliance, and enforce the regulations designed to ensure safe operation. This Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) model has been used successfully in other areas of traffic concerns (most notably seat belt usage), and has been adapted to address the issue of brake violations. The Operation Airbrake Campaign was initially developed in Canada in 1998. As a Keystone Owner operator we offer rewards for passing your inspections. Level 1 $100, Level 2 $50, Level 3 $25.Today is the day to sign up with Keystone!

Visit the CVSA website for more information
http://www.cvsa.org/programs/op_airbrake.php

July is National Picnic Month

Who doesn’t love a picnic? They’re fun any time of year, but Picnic Month is a great excuse to celebrate and be creative. While the classic picnic foods, fried chicken and potato salad, will always remain favorites, there are lots of great themes to be explored. On your next trip home take the family out and have your own little picnic. Many of you who are always out, stop at a nice park on the road and have yourself a picnic. Take in the scenery.

We all know packing foods to take a long in the truck can be challenging, but now to pack a lunch to take to the park? We may just be pushing it! Don’t panic about the picnic just yet…. We have done some research for you! Below are some fun quick ideas for packing picnics for the road:

We have also found a great article on the 10 easiest sandwiches to travel with! Stop spending all your free time at the truck stops, and get out and enjoy the summer! We have done the meal planning for you.

Click here for the 10 best kept sandwiches on the road

Happy Travels All,

Brittany

Keystone Logistics, Inc.  would like to thank our Owner Operators and Agents for their hard work and dedication to our commitment for safety allowing us to continue down the path with no alerts on our basics and remaining compliant with Federal standards.  Without our team we could not be where we are today.  Thank you and congratulations again to all that have been individually recognized by the Safety Department for their outstanding performance keeping our roadways safe.

Highway safety push nets speeders, uses CSA to target unsafe carriers

CVSA releases 2014 Operation Safe Driver results

Feb 6, 2015

If truck drivers complain about speeding four-wheelers, they’re not just imagining things: The results from a recent highway law enforcement blitz showed non-commercial vehicle drivers were cited at a ratio of nearly 10 to 1, compared to truckers. However, compliance investigations resulted in 1 in 4 CSA-targeted carriers being issued proposed unsatisfactory safety ratings.

That’s from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) 2014 Operation Safe Driver mobilization week, conducted last October. Data was collected by 4,337 law enforcement officials at 1,549 locations across the U.S. and Canada.

Law enforcement officers pulled over 59,080 commercial and passenger vehicle drivers during the focused effort. In addition, 24,184 North American Standard Roadside Inspections were conducted by CVSA-Certified Inspectors on commercial drivers and vehicles.

Officers found that non-CMV drivers speed significantly more so than CMV drivers, and issued them a warning or citation for speeding in 52.3 percent of the traffic stops, versus 5.8 percent for CMV drivers.

Speeding, however, still topped the list for trucker stops, followed by failure to use a safety belt, failure to obey traffic control devices, improper lane change, and following too closely.

The top five warnings and citations issued to non-CMV drivers were essentially the same, although possession/use/under the influence of alcohol came in at number four.

“Operation Safe Driver takes a targeted approach to identifying and taking action on problem driver behaviors exhibited by commercial drivers and passenger vehicle drivers,” said CVSA President Capt. William Reese of the Idaho State Police. “CVSA members and our partners are having an impact by applying effective enforcement and education strategies to ultimately improve safety for all motorists.”

During the campaign, federal and state safety investigators also used driver performance data from FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) algorithm to target motor carriers for on-site interventions.As a result, 193 compliance Investigations were conducted during Operation Safe Driver 2014, and 23 percent of the motor carriers investigated received proposed Unsatisfactory Safety Ratings (versus 15 percent for all of FY2014), while another 53 percent received proposed Conditional Safety Ratings (versus 28 percent for FY2014). In addition, 46 percent of the investigations resulted in enforcement actions (versus 33 percent for FY2014).

Taking a closer look at the numbers:

• In 2014, 19,980 CMV traffic enforcement contacts were made; the total was 29,048 in 2013.
• Non-CMV traffic enforcement contacts totaled 39,100 in 2014; there were 45,717 in 2013.
• Roadside inspections totaled 24,184 in 2014 versus 44,882 in 2013.
• The number of warnings and citations per contact to CMV drivers was 0.45 whereas the number of warnings/citations per contact to non-CMV drivers was 1.27, nearly triple the amount.
• The percentage of warnings and citations issued to CMV drivers for speeding decreased from 7.3 percent in 2013 to 5.8 percent in 2014. It was 10.8 percent in 2012.
• The percentage of warnings and citations issued to non-CMV drivers for speeding decreased from 56.0 percent in 2013 to 52.3 percent in 2014.
• The percentage of warnings and citations issued to CMV drivers for failing to obey traffic control devices increased from 1.8 percent in 2013 to 2.5 percent in 2014.
• The percentage of non-CMV drivers issued warnings and citations for alcohol possession/use/under the influence in 2014 was 1.7 percent; in 2013, it was 1.5 percent.
• The percentage of warnings and citations issued to CMV drivers in 2014 for failure to use seat belts was 2.8 percent. It was 2.9 percent in 2013 and 3.8 percent in 2012. For non-CMV drivers, the percentage increased from 2.6 percent in 2013 to 4.1 percent in 2014.

Operation Safe Driver was launched in 2007 by CVSA, in partnership with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and with support from industry and a number of other transportation safety organizations.

 

For more information please visit:

http://fleetowner.com/safety/highway-safety-push-nets-speeders-uses-csa-target-unsafe-carriers?eid=forward

Just Released!

HOS Restart Rule Reverts to Pre-July 2013 Status; Questions and Answers

Questions and answers on the impact of the suspension of the HOS restart provision approved by Congress (as supplied by American Trucking Associations):

On Dec. 13, Congress passed the fiscal year 2015 Omnibus Appropriations bill, providing funding for the vast majority of the federal government, including the Department of Transportation, for the current fiscal year. The President signed the bill into law Dec. 16. Officially titled the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, the bill is over 1,700 pages long and has a host of detailed spending and policy-related provisions affecting many industries.

The most important trucking-related provision is language that provides relief from the two new restrictions of the hours-of-service restart rule. Specifically, the legislation suspends the requirement that all qualifying restarts contain two consecutive periods of time between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., and that it can only be used once every 168 hours (or seven days). In other words, the restart rule reverts back to the simple 34-hour restart in effect from 2003 to June 2013.

Below are some frequently asked questions to help understand the impact of this action.

1. What does the Congressional language actually say, and what does it mean?

The legislation says:

Section 133 temporarily suspends enforcement of the hours-of-service regulation related to the restart provisions that went into effect on July 1, 2013 and directs the Secretary to conduct a study of the operational, safety, health and fatigue aspects of the restart provisions in effect before and after July 1, 2013. The Inspector General is directed to review the study plan and report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations whether it meets the requirements under this provision.”

Essentially, this law eliminates, temporarily, the two new restrictions on the use of the 34-hour restart, namely the 1-5 a.m. provision and the 168-hour rule. Drivers will be permitted to restart their weekly hours by taking at least 34 consecutive hours off-duty, regardless of whether or not it includes two periods of time between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. A driver can also utilize the restart more than one time per week if necessary.

2. When is the new 34-hour restart effective?

The 34-hour restart rule reverted to its pre-July 1, 2013 version on Dec. 16 when the President signed the bill into law.

3. How long will this change last?

Because the language resides in an annual spending bill, its terms expire at the end of FY2015, which is Sept. 30, 2015. Its important to note that the legislation also directs the Department of Transportation to conduct a study comparing the effectiveness of the 34-hour restart rules in place before July 1, 2013 with those that took effect after. During 2015,  ATA will continue to pursue strategies in an effort to keep the simple 34-hour restart rule in place for a longer period of time.

4. Does the legislation include any other changes to the hours-of-service rules?

No, all other hours-of-service rules, including the 30-minute rest break provision, remain unchanged and must be complied with.

5. If our trucks have ELDs, will we be able to use the simple 34-hour restart immediately?

Carriers are encouraged to work with their ELD suppliers to determine what software updates are necessary to comply with this legislatively directed rule change. A short transition period may be necessary, and ATA encourages fleets to be patient as ELD suppliers will need some time to write and deploy the software updates.

6. Will enforcement officials know about this change?

Soon after the law is signed, ATA fully expects the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to issue enforcement memos describing the changes and their impact to law enforcement personnel. The enforcement memos/guidance will be distributed by ATA to its members as they become available. Motor carriers may experience minor disruptions at roadside as law enforcement adapt to the changes. If a driver experiences a problem at roadside, you should contact head of the commercial vehicle safety program in that states lead MCSAP agency.

By Transport Topics

December newsletter! Featuring articles on Cargo Theft, and Safety driving.  Enjoy! Happy Holidays.