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January 23, 2007
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Headline News
Comments
Sought on Speed Limiters and 68 MPH
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), are requesting comments
through the Federal Register on requiring devices that would limit the
speed of certain trucks and to prohibit owners and operators from adjusting the
speed limiting devices. This comes three months after the American Trucking
Associations (ATA) and Road Safe America submitted their speed limiter
petition.
The agencies are soliciting public comments to supplement a review
of the material presented by the petitioners, along with an evaluation of data
or other relevant information the agencies may already have, in conducting a
technical review of the petitions. After considering the technical review, and
taking into account appropriate factors, the NHTSA Administrator will make a
decision whether to grant or deny either or both of these petitions.
ATA stated in its petition that reducing the speed of trucks will
likely reduce both the number and severity of crashes, although ATA did not
quantify injury or fatality reduction benefits. The ATA also stated that the
reduced number of crashes resulting from the lower speed for trucks, will
reduce congestion costs when considering the lost productivity that occurs when
vehicles have been disabled in a crash or delayed at a crash site.
According to the ATA, there will be little or no cost increase for
trucks and truck tractors associated with the speed limiting devices since they
are already installed on these vehicles during manufacture. Also, the ATA
contends that the cost to carriers for the increase in time required to
complete a delivery will be off-set by savings in fuel consumption, fewer
crashes, and less equipment wear.
In summary, TCA’s policy on speed limiters reads that motor
carriers should establish speed control programs which are practical for their
own operations, and which assure compliance with speed limits.
Click
here to review the request for comments on speed limiters as it
appeared in the Federal Register.
Click here to review a copy of ATA’s petition on speed
limiters submitted to FMCSA and NHTSA.
Click here to review a copy of Road Safe America’s
petition on speed limiters submitted to FMCSA.
Top
DHS,
TSA and the Coast Guard Issue Final TWIC Rule
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) and the United States Coast Guard (Coast Guard), has
issued a final rule to further secure our Nation’s ports and modes of
transportation.
The Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program is a
Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Coast Guard initiative that
provides a tamper-resistant biometric credential to maritime workers requiring
unescorted access to secure areas of port facilities, outer continental shelf
facilities, and vessels regulated under the Maritime Transportation Security
Act, or MTSA, and all U.S. Coast Guard credentialed merchant
mariners. Enrollment and issuance for the credential will take place over
an 18-month period affecting an estimated 750,000 individuals. To obtain
a TWIC, an individual must provide biographic and biometric information such as
fingerprints, sit for a digital photograph and successfully pass a security
threat assessment conducted by TSA.
The TWIC Final Rule was posted on January 1, 2007, and reflects input
obtained through four public meetings and over 1,900 comments from the
maritime industry. This rule does not require maritime owners and
operators to purchase or install card readers compatible with TWIC at this
time.
Under the rule, workers, including truck drivers, who want unescorted access to
the nation’s maritime ports, will be required to carry special biometric ID
cards. Eligibility for TWIC includes passing a security threat assessment
similar to that required of hazmat drivers.
While TWIC may be implemented across other transportation modes in the future,
the TWIC Final Rule, published in the Federal Register January 25,
2007, sets forth regulatory requirements to implement this program in the
maritime mode first.
The program’s goals are:
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Positively identify authorized individuals who require unescorted access to
secure areas of the nation’s maritime transportation system;
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Determine the eligibility of an individual to be authorized unescorted access
to secure areas of the maritime transportation system;
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Enhance security by ensuring that unauthorized individuals are denied
unescorted access to secure areas of the nation’s maritime transportation
system; and,
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Identify individuals who fail to maintain their eligibility qualifications
after being permitted unescorted access to secure areas of the nation’s
maritime transportation system and revoke the individual’s permissions.
A second rulemaking is anticipated in calendar year 2007 and will propose
additional access control requirements and the use of electronic readers.
The public will have opportunities to comment on the proposed standards.
The Transportation Security Administration said that TWIC enrollment will begin
in March 2007, “initially at a small number of ports.” The remaining ports will
become activated throughout the year according to an implementation schedule
established in the SAFE Port Act.
Click
here to review a copy of the final rule as it appeared in the Federal
Register.
Top
Objectives
Work Best When Everyone Buys In
It is not unusual for organizations to bring together their management team from
time to time, often on an annual basis, to develop overall company objectives.
These objectives can vary greatly from company to company. They can range from
revenue and profit objectives to decreasing employee absenteeism and most
everything in between. And these objectives usually make very good sense for
the organization. Unfortunately, they sometimes are never met.
Is the failure to reach these goals and objectives because they are poorly
thought out or ill-conceived? Is it because they are unrealistic or even
wishful thinking? Sure, all of these answers are possible. However, realistic
objectives are often not met because the people most responsible for meeting
them are not properly brought into the mix until it is too late.
Often, the process goes something like this: Senior management comes together
for a planning session or budget meeting. From this session comes a series of
objectives, some company-oriented and others department-related. Each manager
is assigned his or her role in meeting the objectives and, hopefully, a
strategy emerges where each department determines their role in helping achieve
the objectives and move the organization ahead at the proper speed and in the
appropriate direction. Unfortunately, the planning process often stops right
there and, thus, the challenge begins.
Rank-and-file employees often, by meeting or memo, are informed of departmental
and company goals and objectives. They are given a timeframe for achieving them
and regular updates on where they stand versus where they need to be.
Unfortunately, the true rank-and-file employee never understands or buys into
their individual roles in achieving success as defined by upper management.
One very useful tool in bringing every member of the team into the huddle and
getting buy-in on goals and objectives is to ideally involve them in the goal
and objective setting. When employees are involved in charting their own path,
they very often are more aggressive and, certainly, more realistic in striving
for improvement. Management can always have veto, or edit, authority over any
goals employees set for themselves.
But regardless of who sets the goals and objectives, the most effective tool is
to let individual employees tell management what roll they will play in meeting
targets. Instead of issuing orders from the top, ask for buy-in from the
bottom. It is only human nature that we are more likely to make the extra
effort to carry out our own ideas. In addition, individuals may very well know
better than management how to best meet the objectives.
So, the next time management comes up with annual goals and/or objectives,
communicate them to every employee and every associate and then take the extra
step of asking them what three specific strategies they will initiate to help
move the organization to and beyond these benchmarks. I’m talking about every
single employee and every single associate. You may need to meet with some to
help them understand their respective roles in the process.
You may even have to help them develop their own strategies. I can promise you
the time will be well-spent and the process will likely be informative and
helpful for all concerned.
We generally get from our people what we expect from them. When we raise our
expectations, we often are rewarded with improved results. When we give them
the opportunity to chart their own future, they are more likely to reach the
destination. Allow your people to tell you themselves how they will meet the
goals and objectives and you will get an organization full of people who know
what has to happen for the organization to succeed.
With this strategy, you truly are leading your people by:
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Providing the preferred outcome;
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Allowing them to chart their own course to success, and;
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Getting out of their way and letting them do their jobs.
When you surround yourself by the right people, they are uniquely qualified to
provide their own direction and you will be much more likely to reach the goals
and objectives needed to advance your organization.
Be a leader today and every day!
Top
ACE
to be required at entry points in California, Texas, New Mexico
Starting in April, trucks entering the United States in California, Texas and
New Mexico will be required to file electronic manifests. U.S. Customs and
Border Protection announced the change Friday, Jan. 19, effective 90 days from
that date.
The Automated Commercial Environment Truck Manifest System, or ACE, is meant to
protect the United States from terrorism and was mandated by the Trade Act of
2002. The e-manifest is an electronically filed version of the paper manifest
carriers already are required to submit before crossing the U.S. border.
This is the second group of ports where e-manifests will be mandatory. They
become mandatory at all ports in Arizona and Washington and seven ports in
North Dakota on Thursday, Jan. 25. Eventually, e-manifests will be required at
all land border ports of entry, so the federal government is encouraging all
truckers to begin using the system.
As mandatory use is phased in, U.S. Customs will continue to provide 90 days’
notice through publication in the Federal Register. Truckers can
submit e-manifests themselves or via third parties, which usually require a
fee.
For more information on ACE, e-mail acenow@dhs.gov
or go to www.cbp.gov/modernization.
Written by Jill Dunn, CCJ Magazine.
Top
USDOT
Provides Model Toll Privatization Legislation
According to the Louisiana Motor Transport Association newsletter, USDOT
recently provided the states with model legislation that would give them the
“tools” to encourage and implement Public-Private Partnerships. A USDOT news
release states that “the model legislation, part of the Department’s initiative
to reduce congestion in the nation’s transportation system, is based on a
survey of existing state laws that authorize public-private partnerships in
building, owning or operating highways, mass transit, railroads, airports,
seaports or other transportation infrastructure.” The model language can be
found at www.fhwa.dot.gov/ppp/legislation.htm.
Note, that ATA has organized a coalition of like minded associations ( ABA,
AAA, OOIDA, NASTO, Highway Users, and others) to oppose privatization efforts
at both the federal and state levels. Highway funding proposals – especially
tolls and privatization – will be discussed both at the TCA and ATA upcoming
February meetings in Washington, DC.
Top
TCA is the only
national trade association whose collective sole focus is the truckload segment
of the motor carrier industry. The association represents dry van,
refrigerated, flatbed, and intermodal container carriers operating in the 48
contiguous states as well as Alaska , Mexico , and Canada . Representing
operators of over 200,000 trucks, which collectively produce an annual revenue
of over $20 billion, TCA is an organization tailored to specific truckload
carrier needs.
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