News Briefs
Now that Oklahoma has changed its registration rules, some companies that had registered their trucks in the state are running into trouble in their home states.
Oklahoma's new rules prohibit trucking companies from using third-party registration agents to establish residency in the state. Arkansas and Alabama are targeting trucking companies to get what they see as money owed them.
Arkansas trucking companies that are no longer allowed to register their trucks in Oklahoma must pay back sales taxes before they can register in Arkansas, says the state attorney general.
Arkansas Attorney General Mark Pryor issued a legal opinion agreeing with the state Department of Finance and Administration, which says it must collect sales taxes dating back three years on trucks being registered in the state from elsewhere.
Arkansas trucking companies are lobbying the state legislature to change the laws, noting that about 90% of Arkansas' carriers register in other states because of Arkansas' high sales tax laws.
The situation has also resulted in Alabama tax officials and the state's trucking industry duking it out over what the state calls improper truck registrations in Oklahoma.
The Alabama Department of Revenue has been ticketing Alabama-based trucks, accusing them of having improper Oklahoma registrations.
They want Alabama-based trucking companies to drop their Oklahoma registrations immediately and buy Alabama registrations. The department says it will forgive past property taxes for those that do. But the Alabama Trucking Assn. says truckers should be allowed to wait until the Oklahoma registrations expire.
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Fatalities in crashes involving large trucks dropped from 5,282 in 2000 to 5,082 in 2001, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The drop of 200 fatalities was more than reported in preliminary figures earlier this year, when NHTSA reported that large truck crashes dropped to 5,192 in 2001. This is the fourth year in a row that the number of fatalities involving large trucks declined.
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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a final rule establishing pass/fail criteria that will allow government and fleet inspectors to use performance-based brake testers. PBBTs are expected to save time, and their use could increase the number of vehicles that can be inspected in a given time. Only PBBTs that meet specifications developed by the FMCSA can be used to determine compliance with the FMCSR. The new rule applies to all commercial motor vehicles and combinations weighing more than 10,000 pounds, and is effective on Feb. 5, 2003.
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The trucking industry breathed a sigh of relief as it appears a plan to widen I-81 in Virginia by adding mandatory truck toll lanes has been put on hold.
The Virginia Department of Transportation sent the unsolicited proposal back to the Star Solutions consortium of construction companies, saying it will seek bids for I-81 construction in a couple of months.
The I-81 proposal was one of five unsolicited proposals to do road work around the state under the terms of the 1995 Public-Private Transportation Act.
The American Trucking Associations and the Virginia Trucking Association praised the move.
