NHTSA also has identified the initial car models to be tested.
“We depend on professional truck and bus drivers to safely move our economy,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. “This grant program makes an investment in our workforce, while ensuring that new commercial drivers are well-trained and focused on safety."
Provided as a free service to help trucking companies and truck drivers, the new information includes the latest exemptions to idling regulations in effect in North Carolina, West Virginia, and Detroit.
The 33 serious violations OSHA found in its inspection include improper machine guarding, inadequate PPE, a deficient hazard communication program, electrical hazards, and deficient use of lockout/tagout devices for energy sources that prevent the inadvertent start-up of machines.
When a flight is oversold, DOT regulations require airlines to seek volunteers willing to give up their seats for compensation. DOT's investigation revealed numerous cases in which Comair failed to solicit volunteers to leave overbooked flights and provide passengers with the appropriate denied boarding compensation.
By early 2011, nine states will have laws on their books banning use of hand-held cell phones while driving. Twenty-seven states have primary enforcement texting bans in place or will begin primary enforcement this year.
NTSB's report about the June 2009 fatal collision of two trains on the Washington, D.C., Metro system's Red Line blames a bad control circuit but also indicts a safety program that is being overhauled.
“Too many families lose loved ones each year on our nation’s roadways," said Rep. Brett Guthrie. "The I-65 corridor in Kentucky has seen several tragedies this year. Hopefully this program will help to improve safety in these dangerous areas.”
According to DOT, about 25 percent of rail traffic in the United States travels through the Chicago region, in some instances taking longer to transit the city than the time it took to reach it from the east or west coasts.
When completed in 2013, the project will replace the 73-year-old Doyle Drive southwest of the Golden Gate Bridge. The project will also result in structural and seismic improvements to the Presidio Trust and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area nearby.
“Transit remains one of the safest forms of transportation, but this report shows the clear need to reinvest in our bus, subway, and light rail systems,” said DOT Secretary Ray LaHood. “As a nation, we must lead when it comes to infrastructure development and commit ourselves to rebuilding America.”
They would apply to about 350 tunnels in the United States located on federal-aid highways. The Federal Highway Administration would model them after the existing National Bridge Inspection Standards.
An Aug. 3-4 public hearing by the NTSB about an Indianapolis crash will look at design changes and tank crashworthiness standards. Meanwhile, PHMSA has proposed incorporating six special permits in the Hazardous Materials Regulations, mainly for agricultural shipments.
In 2006 and 2007, EPA investigators said the shuttle buses that carry passengers from the airport terminal to the rental car locations were idling excessively. Both Massachusetts and Connecticut have clean air regulations which limit motor vehicle idling (to five minutes in Massachusetts and three minutes in Connecticut).
Traffic and revenues rose 22 percent at a constant exchange rate, but the company operating the Channel Tunnel posted a first-half loss because 48 million euros' worth of indemnities have been held up since May 2009.
Forty people were treated after two of the automated Metromover cars bumped Tuesday on the 1.1-mile Brickell Loop operated by Miami-Dade Transit.
NHTSA says what data are available indicate as many as 1,000 ambulance crashes per year involve children, yet there is no uniformity nationwide for how children should be restrained during transport.
Extra law enforcement patrols beginning July 16 in King County are part of a statewide "Slow down or pay up" campaign statewide and a push to eliminate deaths and serious injuries in traffic crashes by 2030.
Backing recent calls by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff for approval of the administration's transit safety legislation, a new DOT report indicates there were 297 fatalities and 19,979 injuries in 2008 transit incidents.
ICE, the federal immigration service, announced five indictments were handed up July 9 in Los Angeles by a federal grand jury, following June 24 arrests near Ludlow, Calif. Police from Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe, along with sheriffs’ departments and the California Highway Patrol, were involved.