May, 2023
Potential Regulations to Keep an Eye On
Federal insurance requirements from the current $750,000 to a possible $2 million. This change would increase the liability insurance rates for carriers.
Speed Limiters are again being looked at for commercial vehicles.
Changes in the Compliance, Safety Accountability - CSA calculations of carriers' scores. Reclassification of accidents.
Driver classification between an employee and an independent contractor is being reviewed.
Drivers under 21 years old being allowed to operate commercial vehicles interstate is being considered.
Department of Transportation
The Department of Transportation (DOT) published a final rule effective June 1, 2023, that, among other items, authorizes employers to use oral fluid drug testing as an alternative testing methodology to urine drug testing. The final rule also:
harmonizes with pertinent sections of the HHS oral fluid Mandatory Guidelines,
clarifies certain Part 40 provisions that cover urine drug testing procedures,
removes provisions that are no longer necessary,
adds eight new definitions, clarifying language to definitions and web links, and
updates provisions to address issues that have risen in recent years.
This drug testing change will take some time to implement, collection sites and labs have to be set up to handle this change.
Driver Qualification Files
Our Driver Qualification File Management Service relieves you of the burden of qualifying your drivers, required recordkeeping, and ongoing maintenance of the files.
We provide online storage of your driver records with emails of items in the file that are delinquent or are about to expire.
You will no longer need to keep track of when any DOT physicals, CDL, or driver’s licenses expire when annual reviews are to be done, and when to acquire their Motor Vehicle Records (MVR). An e-mail will be sent to you twice a month listing your current drivers and anything that needs to be taken care of. You will be notified two months in advance of anything that needs to be renewed.
New drivers can be added by contacting our office. We will do the previous employer contacts, obtain the MVR’s and upload all the records to our system.
The online files can be reviewed by your office with the use of a username and password. In the event of a DOT safety audit, the auditor will be issued a username and password so the files can be reviewed at an off-site location.
Our Driver Qualification File Management Service is an efficient way to meet the driver qualification requirements.
Please contact our office for additional information.
Fuel and Mileage Taxes
Carriers that we file their fuel and mileage taxes, please submit your fuel receipts and GPS or trip reports for this maintenance service monthly.
ELD and GPS users must allow us to access their electronic records and send us their fuel receipts grouped by vehicle and month.
Your records we maintain must remain current each month. State and federal governments have various reports or tax changes that require the breakdown of mileage by month. All miles must be recorded, even for non-commercial use such as moving the vehicle for maintenance, fueling, or washing the vehicle.
If paper trip sheets are used, there are fewer problems with IRP and IFTA audits if we have the beginning and ending odometer readings for each trip. We can determine missing trips and miles with the odometer readings.
A late filing fee will be imposed if the trip reports are not sent to our office by the 15th of the month following the end of a quarter.
With today's automation, all records for all filings must be consistent. We will make sure that the IFTA, IRP, state mileage, state gross receipts, state franchise, state property reports, and any state or federal questionnaire or reports are consistent to avoid a possible audit.
Dash Cameras
We are offering Surfsight dash-mounted cameras in Geotab bringing the next generation of vehicle cameras to the robust Geotab tracking system at a reasonable price. The Sufsight system allows you to view your vehicles and drivers, directly from the MyGeotab platform. The camera system allows you to monitor cameras live and get high-resolution clips of certain events directly tied to the Geotab alerts system, all from the comfort of your office.
Surfsight visually captures the drive, automatically detects and flags harsh driving incidents, and provides on-demand view and retrieval through the MyGeotab platform. The camera will record exactly what happened before, during, and after an incident.
The Surfsight system is an enterprise-grade camera system with features such as:
Wide angle front facing (1080p) and cabin-facing (720p) cameras
IR night vision for a clear image inside the cabin
Entry-level price without sacrificing quality
Powered AI and sensors for detecting harsh driving incidents including driver distractions
SOS button
LCD screen for simplifying installation & troubleshooting, reviewing videos & driver alerts
Tamper-resistant locking for 128 GB microSD card and SIM card
Built-in battery for parking mode
FCC, PTCRB, and US operator's certification
Operational temperature between -30C to +70C
Over the Air (OTA) updates
Contact our office for additional information.