While much attention in the trucking industry is turned to Louisville this week for the annual MATS madness, another event that is possibly even more crucial to truckers’ daily operations is under way in Denver. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has a full lineup of heavy hitters in the Mile High City to represent the interests of drivers.

Four representatives of OOIDA are attending the biannual Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance conference this week in Denver. This year’s agenda has a variety of topics of interest to truckers, including updates from key FMCSA and TSA officials.

Representing the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association will be Rick Craig, OOIDA director of regulatory affairs; Woody Chambers, OOIDA general vice president; Tom Weakley, OOIDA Foundation director; and Joe Rajkovacz, OOIDA regulatory affairs specialist.

The conference began Thursday, March 27. John Hill, the administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is scheduled to speak Friday morning and provide updates on his agency.

An update on activities at the Transportation Security Administration is also on tap Friday morning, with William Arrington, general manager of the highway and motor carrier branch of the Department of Homeland Security, scheduled to deliver the presentation.

The OOIDA officials in attendance will participate in the Executive Committee and the Associate Advisory Committee meetings, as well as working committee meetings. The committee agendas and the OOIDA representatives who will be attending are:

• Driver and traffic enforcement committee – OOIDA’s Rick Craig attending. Agenda items include a presentation on entry-level driver training by Tom Yager of the FMCSA; discussion of English proficiency standards; and a report on the 2008 plans for the “Operation Safe Driver” program.
• Vehicle committee – OOIDA’s Woody Chambers attending. Agenda items include reports on and discussions of numerous equipment-related reviews and regs.
• Program initiatives committee – OOIDA’s Tom Weakley attending. Among the agenda items are a request to amend the Out-of-Service Criteria to include federal out-of-service orders; a report on the four-state pilot program of the CSA 2010 program; and an update on Unified Carrier Registration.
• Transportation security committee – OOIDA’s Joe Rajkovacz attending. Agenda items include discussion of the development of cargo seal guidelines; and reports from the TSA on the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program, Real I.D. Act deployment, the Truck Tracking Program, and other security-related topics.

CVSA is an association of state, provincial and federal officials responsible for the administration and enforcement of motor carrier safety laws in the United States, Canada and Mexico, according to the organization’s Web site.

In addition, CVSA has several hundred associate members, including truck and bus companies, industry associations, insurance companies, manufacturers, safety product and service providers, research organizations, commercial vehicle drivers and other individuals dedicated to highway safety.

For more information on the annual CVSA conference, visit the organization’s Web site by clicking here.

– By Coral Beach, staff editor
coral_beach@landlinemag.com