The trucking world is filled with confusing things. The regulations are many and the letters – FMCSA, CSA, SMS, DOT – can cause real befuddlement. Three letters in particular, SMS, are extremely important. They stand for Safety Measurement System. We’ll explain what the trucking SMS is all about by answering a few common questions about it.
Month: October 2020
What’s happening with truck driver turnover with COVID-19?
The coronavirus pandemic has definitely led to a lot of changes and challenges – there’s no denying that. Pretty much everyone and everything has been affected by the pandemic. One thing that was impacted by COVID-19 is the driver turnover rate in the trucking industry, an interesting effect of the virus: the turnover rate in the trucking world dropped during the second quarter.
What New Entrants need to know about safety audits
If you are a New Entrant, you have to go through a safety audit within the first year of operation. But what exactly is that, and what does it mean? What happens during the audit? What violations could cause an automatic failure of the audit? And what happens if you pass your audit – or if you fail your audit? We’ll answer those questions so you know what to expect from safety audits.
What’s the New Entrant Program website?
If you’re new to the trucking world, you probably have a lot of questions. That’s okay! The FMCSA has a lot of helpful information for new entrants. There’s a lot to find out and a lot to learn, but fortunately you can find out more with the New Entrant Program website. That’s a great way to familiarize yourself with the trucking and registration-related information you need. We’ll explain a handful of the sections on the New Entrant Program website.
Information systems the FMCSA runs
The FMCSA, or Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, has a lot on its plate. They run a lot of different programs related to safety and they have a lot of different programs to keep track of the data they collect. Since the FMCSA’s goal is to enhance safety on the nation’s roads, a lot of information needs to be stored and organized. It can be a lot to keep it straight. At any rate, here are a few FMCSA information systems you should know about.
FMCSA Military Driver Programs
If you’re a military personnel and you’re considering moving into a civilian career, don’t forget to consider trucking. Transportation can be a great career path. There’s always a need for experienced commercial truck drivers, and the FMCSA wants to fill the jobs with CMV drivers who have experience, who are safe drivers, and who are trustworthy. (That goes along with their goal of increasing CMV safety and lowering the number of crashes involving CMVS.) That’s why the FMCSA has various programs that make it easier for military personnel to get CDLs – not to mention quicker and cheaper. We’ll explain how you can find out if you’re eligible and go over the different FMCSA Military Driver programs.