The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has moved its SAFER System from Tysons Corner, VA to Cambridge, Mass. They have also made many new changes to the SAFER website, which allows for more access to information regarding motor carriers. For more information check out their website at www.safersys.org.

On September 1st US Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater announced that the US DOT's National Highway Safety Administration issued a Consumer Advisory concerning an additional 1.4 million tires that were not included in the Firestone Tire Company's initial August 9th recall of 47 million ATX, ATXII and Wilderness tires.

This entire press release can be viewed at www.dot.gov/affairs/firstad.htm. The consumer advisory at www.nhtsa.dot.gov/hot/.

US DOT Secretary Slater also announced new tougher safety rules for shutting down unfit motor carriers. The new rules become effective on November 20, 2000. For more details on this go to www.dot.gov/affairs/fmcsa1300.htm

US DOT Secretary Slater also announced a proposal to permit the use of "performance-based brake testers" to check the brakes on large trucks and buses for compliance with federal safety standards and to issue citations when these vehicles fail.

Performance-based brake testers (PBBT assess vehicle braking capability by measuring the individual wheel brake forces or overall brake performance in a controlled test. Specific testers addressed in the proposal include the roller dynamometer, breakaway torque tester and flat-plate tester. For more information regarding this news release and proposal, visit www.dot.gov/affairs/fmc1200.htm

The Federal Highway Administration researchers have found that there is a relationship between the occurrence of crashes associated with red-light running and the geometric features of urban four-legged, signalized intersections. For more details go to http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/stoplr.

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