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The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) New Entrant Safety Assurance Process rule took effect December 16, 2009. The rule requires newly registered truck and bus companies to meet stricter safety requirements.
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Typically we think wheel bearing fires occur strictly as the result of traveling for long durations at highway speeds. Not so. In September I experienced a situation so innocuous I never thought it would ultimately cause a wheel bearing fire.
I do not need a crystal ball to tell me what comes to mind for most bus company owners when they hear the word compliance. I already know they would say DOT regulations.
In unyielding market conditions, bus and motorcoach operators are casting a wide net in an effort to strengthen performance and improve the bottom line. One area executives can make improvements is in commercial insurance programs.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) uses the word reincarnated to describe out of service operators who have returned in no better shape than when they left to do business under a new identity.
If an operator were asked to list the most important safety factors in a bus and motorcoach operation, what comes to mind as the five most important points?
Chances are slim to none that dispatch made that list. Many passenger transportation companies do not realize the dispatcher often is the forgotten ingredient in the safety soup.
With the federal transportation agencies catching it from all sides, the announcement by DOT Secretary Ray LaHood for a full departmental review of motorcoach safety certainly touched a nerve in one operator in Texas.
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Electronic surveillance in public spaces is a fact of life. In response to increased violence, abnormal passenger behavior and inattentive driving, anyone anywhere could be watched or recorded by cameras, holding all accountable.
Not so long ago the government and other optimists were reluctant to acknowledge any sort of economic slowdown, let alone a recession. What a contrast with the here and now. Today there certainly is no shortage of doomsayers.
In its summation of the Mexican Hat crash of January 2008 that killed nine passengers, the decision by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to also bring the hammer down on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has stirred a smoldering fire.
