Truck news and highlights for Monday, December 14, 2020:
The National Weather Service predicts that a significant winter storm will affect the mid Atlantic and southern New England states this week.
Heavy snow is expected in the middle of the Atlantic in southern New England this week
Much of the Northeast expects a major winter storm later this week to bring up to two inches of snow in some places, freezing rain in others and snow-like conditions in parts of New York, New Jersey and southern New England.
The storm is expected to cover from southern Illinois to the mid-Atlantic, northeastern and eastern states of Canada. It is still forming and is expected to take place from Tuesday, December 15, to Thursday, December 17, and affect travel on major routes, including I-95.
According to the National Weather Service for the Eastern Region, heavy snow is expected in eastern West Virginia, passing through western Maryland, Pennsylvania, northwestern New Jersey, eastern New York and southern New England.
“The combination of heavy snow and gusts of wind can create near-snow conditions inland, where all or most of the snow falls from the storm,” AccuWeather said in a report on Monday. “Northern New Jersey and the lower Hudson Valley of New York State, across southern New England, is the area most likely to experience near-blizzard and dark conditions. In this area, winds can often blow between 40 and 50 mph, reducing visibility to almost zero sometimes at the height of the storm from Wednesday night to Thursday morning. “
Up to a foot of snow could be seen in some larger cities, including Boston; Providence, Rhode Island; Hartford, Connecticut; Scranton, Allentown, Harrisburg and State College, Pennsylvania; Patterson, New Jersey; and Hagerstown, Maryland.
Several inches of snow are expected in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, DC The snow is expected to end on Friday morning.
According to Accuweather, the ice is expected to cover parts of western North Carolina, northern South Carolina, southwest and central Virginia and part of central Maryland from last Tuesday night through Wednesday.
FMCSA considering changes to driver quote reporting records
As part of its effort to remove burdensome, redundant and costly regulations, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is considering removing the requirement that interstate truck drivers prepare and annually send a list of their traffic violation convictions to their employers.
The agency says the requirement is “largely duplicated” from another provision that requires carriers to conduct an annual investigation of each driver’s motor vehicle registration (MVR) in each state where the driver has or had a CDL or license in the year past.
For drivers licensed by a foreign authority rather than by a state, this provision would be amended to require carriers to make an annual consultation with the licensing authority of each driver where a driver has or has owned a CDL or license. This change would require operators to request the MVR equivalent from Canadian and Mexican driver licensing authorities.
The FMCSA says that removing this requirement for drivers to provide a list of their traffic violation convictions would reduce the burden of paperwork on drivers and carriers, without negatively affecting safety.
American Trucking Associations previously expressed support for the removal of this requirement for drivers in 2017, when DOT asked the public to identify rules that were good candidates for revocation, replacement, suspension or modification.
The agency is seeking comments on the proposal, which can be made here until February 12.
Possible clutch problem leads to recall of 1,200 Freightliner Cascadias
Daimler Trucks North America is recalling approximately 1,233 Freightliner Cascadia trucks model year 2021 for a possible problem with the clutch assembly, according to documents from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
On affected trucks, the clutch flange can break due to the heat treatment and stamping process, which can cause loose parts to fall into the clutch pressure plate assembly, resulting in the clutch being disengaged.
Daimler will notify owners and dealers will replace the clutch on the affected trucks. Owners can contact DTNA customer service at 1-800-547-0712 with the recall number FL-869. The NHTSA recall number is 20V-742.