Month: October 2017

Effort to include trucks fails before Senate panel advances autonomous bill

A Senate panel has excluded commercial trucks from legislation it approved on Oct. 4 to assist the development and deployment of autonomous cars.

Unanimous passage by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation sends the AV Start Act (S. 1885) to the full Senate. Similar legislation that also excludes vehicles over 10,000 lbs. was passed by the House of Representatives last month.
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FMCSA proceeds with December ELD enforcement plan

ATLANTA. Despite recent speculation regarding potential delays for the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is proceeding with its plan to begin enforcing the rule on Dec. 18.

“We won’t be putting drivers out of service for simply failing to have an ELD, but if they’re not compliant with the hours of service rules or don’t have a paper record that shows that they’re compliant, they’ll continue to be put out of service,” explained Jon Dierberger, field administrator at FMCSA, during TU-Automotive’s Connected Fleets event. “That rule will still remain in effect.”
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EPA Diesel Emissions Reduction Act – Funds Available

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services will have funds available in the fall of 2017 through the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) program to help diesel equipment owners in New Hampshire to reduce emissions. This program provides partial funding for local/state governments and businesses to reduce emissions through idle reduction technology, exhaust controls, or replacement of older diesel engines with newer engines. The deadline for the first round of applications is October 15th. Additional information as well as an application are available on our website https://www.des.nh.gov/organization/divisions/air/tsb/tps/msp/diesel-vehicles/index.htm. Any questions can be directed to Elizabeth Strachan at Elizabeth.strachan@des.nh.gov