Transportation Safety

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While the military is working on weaponizing drones – including equipping them with machine guns – the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is warning the general public that attaching a dangerous weapon to a drone and sending it skyward is illegal. Nonetheless, some drone owners have attached guns, bombs, fireworks and even – according to the FAA – flamethrowers to their drones.

Older workers (those ages 55 and older) bring extensive skills, knowledge, and experience built over the course of a lifespan. On the flip side, their driving may be affected by age-related physical and mental changes – many of them perfectly normal changes. Employers cannot avoid the issue of aging drivers because by the year 2020:

In the wake of revelations that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) allowed aircraft manufacturer Boeing to handle the safety analysis for its airliners – revelations that followed two fatal crashes of Boeing’s 737 MAX, the U.S. Department of Transportation is firming up its new Safety Oversight and Certification Advisory Committee (SOCAC).

In Washington, D.C., a new Trump administration plan to relax safety rules for truck drivers has rekindled old heartaches for families across the country. On a sunny Labor Day morning in Oklahoma, Linda Wilburn’s younger son, 19-year-old Orbie, hopped into his 1994 red Camaro and headed east from Weatherford on Interstate 40. The college freshman, excited about his new rental house, needed to collect more stuff from his parent’s place, 10 miles away.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has unveiled five proposed changes to existing hours of service (HOS) rules for commercial motor vehicle drivers. Predictably, the revisions – which FMCSA says will increase safety and save money – are drawing mixed reactions. U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao said the changes would give commercial drivers more flexibility while maintaining the safety limits on driving time.

Picnics. Family gatherings. Barbecues. Plenty of adult beverages and now, legal marijuana. During the long Labor Day weekend, many Americans will enjoy themselves in many different ways – some of which will hamper their ability to drive safely. That’s where tens of thousands of law enforcement officers across the U.S. (who won’t get days off over the holiday) come in. They’ll be enforcing a crackdown on impaired drivers, spearheaded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

A fatality that occurred when an Atlanta transit train struck equipment that was on the train tracks was the result of a flagperson moving the on-track equipment (OTE) outside of the restriction area without authority and on-track protection. That’s the conclusion of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigated the incident.

Whenever I chat with fleets about CarriersEdge, and what our online training services can offer, I am confident in my replies as the questions are usually standard. Not much stumps me, but when I attended the Mid America Trucking Show a potential client asked me what we say to drivers who feel threatened by our online training. I had been asked that same question 12 years ago, and I remember that I really had to think about how I would respond.