Your June 12 Pre-Trip: Georgia safety effort targets big trucks

June 12, 2015

Here are five things worth knowing today: 1. Georgia will hire 60 new officers to its commercial-truck enforcement division, which is focused on monitoring and inspecting commercial trucks, according to the Athens Banner-Herald. The state will spend $10 million to hire additional officers to make traffic stops and perform inspections of commercial trucks, the Banner-Herald said. The measure was prompted by an increase in crashes involving big trucks.2. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WS) has scheduled a hearing on long-term financing of the highway trust fund for June 17, according to The Hill. The hearing will “explore the feasibility of various ideas to provide a sustainable long-term solution to the Highway Trust Fund shortfall,” the report said. The expiration for the current federal infrastructure funding is July 31. 3. A mother-daughter duo is accused of embezzling more than $140,000 from Stone Trucking Company, according to Oklahoma’s News on 6. Employees at Stone Trucking said the mother, Diana Humphress, was a supervisor and had been with the company for nearly a decade, according to the report. Authorities are saying Humphress was writing company checks to her daughter for work that was never done, News on 6 said. Humphress turned herself in but her daughter is still on the run, the report said. 4. Drivers who dawdle in the left lane could face fines of up to $500, NBC News reports. Lawmakers in Indiana have passed a law fining those who refuse to move out of the left lane when traffic piles up behind them. According to the report, Indiana is one of a handful of states specifically targeting motorists who obstruct the left lane. 5. Lawmakers are calling for collision-avoidance systems to be included in federal auto regulators’ car safety ratings, the Detroit Free Press says. If passed, the legislation would require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to include “active safety technology” in its ratings, according to the Press. The NTSB recommends that the technology be made standard in all new passenger and commercial vehicles.

About the Author

Cristina Commendatore

Cristina Commendatore was previously the Editor-in-chief of FleetOwner magazine. She reported on the transportation industry since 2015, covering topics such as business operational challenges, driver and technician shortages, truck safety, and new vehicle technologies. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut.