Mileage Matters
November 9, 2021
Michigan Trucking
Association
Transport Topics- Truck drivers traveling alone in their cabs are exempt from a new interim final rule mandating that employees for large private companies get COVID-19 vaccinations, according to a statement by U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.

“If you’re a truck driver and you’re outside, you’re in a cab driving by yourself, this doesn’t impact you. If you’re a worker outside working in the area, this doesn’t impact you,” Walsh told Philadelphia television station WPVI on November 4.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration on November 4 announced the rule mandating that private companies with 100 or more employees ensure that their workers are COVID-19 vaccinated, or if not, are tested at least weekly. The rule is set to take effect January 4, 2022.

Infrastructure bill passes, unlocking $110B for roads and bridges and paving the way for under-21 driver program
Transport Topics- The House of Representatives Friday night passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that provides $110 billion for roads, highways and bridges, along with money for the buildout of an electric vehicle infrastructure, water projects, the expansion of high-speed internet service, environmental cleanup and public transit.

It also creates a training and apprenticeship program for under-21 commercial drivers to haul interstate.
Associated Press- A federal appeals court on Saturday temporarily halted the Biden administration’s vaccine requirement for businesses with 100 or more workers.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay of the requirement by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration that those workers be vaccinated by January 4 or face mask requirements and weekly tests.

First shutdown scheduled for February 2022
Freight Waves- Federal regulators are attempting to head off ELD violations by urging carriers to plan ahead for the shutdown of third-generation (3G) mobile technology by major cellular companies.

Wireless providers such as AT&T and T-Mobile are phasing out 3G to make space for 5G. ELDs that are only compatible with 3G will no longer be able to transmit data to the back office or roadside law enforcement — effectively rendering the ELDs obsolete and eventually landing them on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Revoked ELDs list.



Last class of 2021!
November 18
Registration Deadline: November 11
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MTA has learned that Vincent J. Held, Sr., formerly of Liquid Transport and Great Lakes Petroleum Transportation, passed November 6, 2021.

Throughout the years of leadership in the transportation industry, Held was President of MTA 2001-2002 and 2014-2015.
Freight Waves- As Miguel Silva, president of Intermodal Logistics at the Port of Oakland, surveyed his truck yard last week, he pointed to shipping containers filled with corn and soybean seed.

Silva and other trucking companies dispute the widely reported message that a driver shortage is largely to blame for the port congestion issues in California. 

FreightWaves interviewed multiple company executives who said they were actually shedding drivers because of the lack of consistent work due to port congestion bottlenecks, equipment and efficiency issues.

Transport Topics- An estimated 20,160 people died in motor vehicle crashes on U.S. roadways in the first half of 2021, up 18.4% over 2020 and the largest number of projected fatalities in that time period since 2006, according to an “early estimates” report released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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