And if you’d like to catch up on what happening with federal regulations regarding sleep apnea and the national registry for certified medical examiners, read the cover story in the February issue of Overdrive. You could be among those affect by coming changes.

Worldwide Kenworth’s parent company, Worldwide Equipment, based in Prestonsburg, Ky., also celebrates its chairman and CEO, Terry Dotson, being named the 2012 Truck Dealer of the Year by the American Truck Dealers.

Worldwide Equipment recently purchased assets of Cherokee Kenworth, and has locations in West Columbia and Greenville, S.C., operating under Worldwide Kenworth of South Carolina’s banner.

Brundige’s winning transaction with the truck stop’s loyalty card on July 24 at Huck’s Travel Center in Kuttawa, Ken., was one of nearly two million qualifying entries made. In addition to the grand prize, other prizes are awarded throughout the year for registered card users.

Lucas Oil Products, the winning motorcycle maker, co-sponsored the contest.

As part of its grand opening, the station will offer free, limited service through Feb. 15 and full premium service for $1.25, plus tax, through Feb. 29.

The shore service provider is operating 25 sites in Arkansas, California, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, including the Albert Lea service. New sites are planned in Texas and Arizona.

Services at the stations include 120-volt electricity, more than 60 DirectTV channels including an ESPN package and basic Internet service on a touchscreen display.

Visit IdleAir for details.

At a certain point in the committee’s discussion yesterday, Feb. 7, about the issue of electronic logs and harassment, as the discussion ranged seemingly away from the task at hand — discussion to provide a report to FMCSA on how electronic log device standards might be written into future regulations to help ensure the devices are not used to harass interstate truck operators — Jane Mathis of Parents Against Tired Truckers said the “elephant in the room” for the discussion was the fact that the very reason to be concerned with “electronic logs is to prevent fraudulent use of written logs. We know there are drivers who drive way in excess of 11 and adjust their logs accordingly.”

The subsequent conversation was somewhat emblematic of the divisions in the room on where exactly change energy was needed.

Stephen Owing of Road Safe America followed with “I would think that electronic logging would give the driver the ability to factually prevent harassment. ‘I’m out of hours, I’m pulling over.’”

Danny Schnautz of Texas-based Clark Freight Lines: “That’s the point – what if the driver needs to pull over even when he’s not out of hours? Or he needs to go slow when the speed limit is high? Either way he’s going to get pushed.”

Rob Abbott of the American Trucking Associations then called drivers and owner-operators a “population of people who were unsupervised and now they’re supervised. Now we’re going to put the supervisor in the cab with you – not a lot unlike a factory worker…. The agency should look at language that is in place, other parallel environments where somebody’s there as a supervisor. [Because with electronic logs] we’re putting the supervisor in the truck.”

Lamont Byrd of the Teamsters: “I would agree in a sense with Rob that having these electronic devices in trucks is putting the supervisor in the truck. It’s also forcing a cultural change in the industry. Historically, drivers could manage their day and do what they’re supposed to do. But [Paul Claunch, of Arkansas State Police] hit the nail on the head – we won’t be able to regulate bad management practices. The only practical solution is to separate the fleet management systems from electronic logging. A company may elect to have a fleet management system, but what the agency can do is regulate having minimum requirements for electronic logs. Just keep it simple and separate.”

Ultimately, that’s exactly what the report in the form it was in yesterday did: suggest simplifying the requirements for any electronic log, separate from the multifunctional fleet management suites of products/communications.

Then it was time for the other elephant to rear it’s big ears. Todd Spencer of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association put this to the assembled: “A host of communications devices can be used to pressure or harass drivers. That existed before some of the on-board recorder stuff… The reality isn’t, as Jane pointed out, [that driving more than 11 hours is the big problem] — the elephant in the room is the time spent loading and unloading. It’s never captured, it’s never accounted for. The monitoring supervisor in the cab with you certainly has every disincentive to want to make sure that time is captured as on-duty not driving. Of course, the limits of any perceived benefits [of electronic logs] can never actually be realized” because of the limits of the technology, Spencer said, his contention that an electronic logging device will not substantively change the uncompensated detention time problem that is rampant.

It was just a small snapshot into a wide-ranging discussion yesterday — for distillation of the report the MCSAC is finalizing this morning, check out the story on Overdriveonline.com this morning.

I’m off to a cross-border program update — look for some news about it later in the day.

FMCSA ordered the carrier to immediately shut down after agency investigators discovered the company was using drivers who did not possess valid CDLs, or read and speak English sufficiently to drive safely. The agency may also take enforcement action against the drivers without a CDL, including civil penalties and/or disqualification.

The order can be viewed here.

The Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee is tasked with making recommendations to the agency following the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision last August that vacated the 2010 limited mandate for EOBRs for certain noncompliant carriers.

The harassment issue may be the key consideration for the agency, which is intent on devising a rule that mandates some version of electronic logging devices for virtually all trucks in interstate commerce, given the court’s vacation of the rule.

Following the January 2011 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking “for a broader mandate,” said FMCSA Associate Administrator for Policy Larry Minor, the agency is gathering input on harassment stemming from electronic logs from several other sources. It plans “listening sessions,” including one at a Louisville trucking show next month.

While the committee, meeting in Alexandria, Va., spent considerable time debating how EOBRs could be designed to prevent their use for driver harassment, a majority of members favored adopting recommendations specifically for “electronic logging devices,” separate from more broadly functional fleet-management systems.

“It is the incorporation of the fleet management system [with mobile communication technology] into the electronic logging device that creates the gateway” for harassment issues, said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. “FMCSA should not allow carriers to integrate fleet management systems into electronic logging devices,” he added.

The broad majority of committee members did not go so far as to recommend totally disallowing such integration. If a rulemaking simply doesn’t consider the option of fleet management tools to add on top of the electronic log, said Con-way Freight Safety Vice President Bob Petrancosta, “I would argue it doesn’t endorse it. [Manufacturers] make fine fleet management systems that have a benefit to them.”

The vacated limited mandate rule, said Spencer, “went well beyond a simple electronic logging device. It required these broader systems, and that’s what the legislation that’s being kicked around right now would require.” He also noted that requiring real-time tracking capabilities and global positioning system location data triggers constitutional issues about privacy.

Said Danny Schnautz of Clark Truck Lines, “We need to limit that definition of electronic logging systems. The only reason the harassment issue came up is because of the two-way communication systems.”

A draft report to the agency by the committee called out several areas where harassment issues can arise. Among them are repeated carrier contacts during off-duty time, law enforcement demands to show a paper log, general intrusion into driver privacy by management, pressure on drivers from dispatch, a driver’s decision to stop when tired being used against a driver and multiple contacts by carriers or shippers questioning why drivers are not moving.

Not mandating real-time communication from the devices may mitigate most of these situations, committee members suggested.

Considerable debate surrounded the need to mandate GPS functionality within electronic logging device standards. “Whether you’re going from here to here,” Spencer noted, “the only thing relative to hours of service is hours. There is no realistic economic benefit” to including a location-tracking element, adding costs and potentially opening right-of-control disputes in the independent contractor owner-operator/carrier relationship, putting both businesses in jeopardy in a legal challenge.

“Any electronic logging device would not be as accurate without a GPS,” said Scott Hernandez of the Colorado State Patrol.

Regarding costs, however, Tom Cuthbertson, director of industry solutions for Xata, a maker of the devices, said “the GPS component itself is in the $15 to $20 range.”

The trucks were built between Jan. 31, 2011, and Jan. 19, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The agency said the trucks are equipped with Bendix ATR-6 antilock traction relay valves that may leak fluid in temperatures below zero degrees and result in continuous brake application.

The recall includes Kenworth models T660, T700, T800 and W900 and Peterbilt models 384, 386, 387, 389 and 587. Paccar will provide a free temporary repair until Bendix delivers a permanent remedy. Customers are advised to contact their dealer or call (425) 828-5440 for Kenworth, (940) 591-4196 for Peterbilt or the NHTSA hotline at (888) 327-4236.

Bendix notified NHTSA of the defect in January after receiving customer complaints about brake issues. The company said a permanent fix is forthcoming.

In addition to Kenworth and Peterbilt models, the valve recall affects trucks made by Navistar International and Volvo Group. Navistar said it has delayed International truck production until a permanent fix is available, and the company predicts the valve problem will contribute to a loss for the quarter that ended Jan. 31.

After postponing deliveries of vehicles affected by the Bendix part defect in January, Volvo began using another valve to continue building trucks at its Virginia plant. Volvo is working with customers to repair trucks already on the road.

Bendix estimated the part problem affected up to 60,000 vehicles.

Workers are stabilizing the slope, TDOT said. A 1,500-ton boulder was removed that could have fallen on the roadway. A second phase to shore up the mountainside is expected to begin in late March, the department said.

Traffic has resumed after a second rockslide east on I-40 in North Carolina was cleared away over the weekend, the North Carolina Department of Transportation said.