Trucking news and briefs for Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023:
DOT increases fines for regs violations
The Department of Transportation will publish Friday a final rule updating the civil penalty amounts that may be imposed for violations of certain DOT regulations, including Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations focused on trucking-company audits.
DOT is required by Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 to adjust fine amounts each year based on inflation.
A final rule that will publish in the Federal Register Friday makes the new fine amounts effective immediately. The 2015 Act required FMCSA and other DOT agencies to issue an initial “catch-up” adjustment, followed by annual adjustments for inflation.
The DOT, to find the 2023 adjustment amount, had to multiply the previous penalty amount by the percentage change between the October 2022 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and the October 2021 CPI-U, which for that period was 1.07745. Given this multiplier, all of the fine amounts increased.
The DOT noted that the penalty adjustments made by the rule will apply only to violations that take place after the rule takes effect, adding that the rule doesn’t change previously assessed or enforced penalties that DOT is actively collecting or has collected.
The updated fines for FMCSA regulations violations can be seen here.
Peterbilt of Atlanta opens 8th location
Peterbilt of Atlanta will open a new location in Dublin, Georgia on Jan. 9 -- the company’s 8th location.
The new site will allow Peterbilt of Atlanta to provide sales and service to a fleet of new customers along the I-16 corridor in Georgia.
The site has a 16,000-square-foot shop, including a 16-bay facility and two mobile techs, and 9,000-square-feet of warehouse space for parts. The store sits on 10 acres and provides ample space for truck and trailer parking.
Doing business as Peterbilt of Dublin, the new store is located at 3011 Hwy 257, Dublin, GA, 31021.
Women in Trucking launches 2023 gender diversity survey
The Women in Trucking Association (WIT) is encouraging trucking companies and others in transportation to complete a survey that collects data on gender diversity in the industry. The data will be used to develop this year’s version of the WIT Index, which serves as an industry barometer to regularly benchmark the percentage of women who are professional drivers, in corporate positions, and serve in leadership roles.
WIT is requesting for-hire trucking companies, private fleets, transportation intermediaries, railroads, ocean carriers, equipment manufacturers and technology companies to report the percentage of women in various roles of their workforce. Data reported will be kept strictly confidential, and data will be reported only as aggregate totals of respondents. Individuals completing the survey must be an authorized respondent from the company.
Interested participants can report their data via the live survey through April 21.
Participating companies in the survey will receive an executive summary of the 2023 WIT Index at no cost, which will enable them to benchmark their gender diversity practices against other companies in transportation.
Last year, the 2022 WIT Index found that the percentage of professional drivers who are female increased to 13.7%, an uptick of more than 3% since 2019. Additionally, the report found that women make up 33.8% of C-suite executives in transportation companies, 40.5% of safety professionals, and 74.9% of human resources and talent management roles.
