Department of Transportation June 14, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

FMCSA announces its decision to grant Volvo Trucks North America, Inc.'s (Volvo) application for an exemption for two Volvo drivers to drive commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in the United States without possessing the requisite CDL issued by one of the States. Magnus Ericsson and Conny Harlin are part of a team of Volvo engineers and technicians test-driving Volvo prototype CMVs in U.S. environments. Each of these drivers holds a valid Swedish CDL but lacks the U.S. residency necessary to obtain a CDL issued by one of the States of the U.S. FMCSA believes the rigorous training and testing that drivers must undergo to obtain a Swedish CDL, and the excellent safety record of both of these drivers, ensure that these drivers will likely achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety that would be obtained in the absence of the exemption.

FMCSA requests public comment on an application for exemption from the Flatbed Carrier Safety Group (FCSG) regarding the securement of metal coils on a flatbed vehicle, in a sided vehicle, or in an intermodal container loaded with eyes crosswise, grouped in rows, in which the coils are loaded to contact each other in the longitudinal direction. FCSG wants to use the pre-January 1, 2004 cargo securement regulations for the transportation of groups of metal coils with eyes crosswise.

FMCSA requests public comment on applications for exemption from Con-way Freight (Con-way), TK Holdings, Inc. (Takata), and Iteris, Inc. (Iteris) regarding the placement of lane departure warning system sensors at the top of the windshields of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). Each applicant requests that FMCSA permit the mounting of the lane departure warning system sensors near the top of the windshield, and within the swept area of the windshield wipers, which is currently prohibited by the Agency's regulations. The lane departure warning system would be used to alert a driver when he or she unintentionally drifts out of their lane of travel, thus promoting improved safety performance of CMV drivers. Each applicant contends that this mounting position does not adversely impact driver visibility.

This action proposes to establish Class E airspace at Fillmore, UT, to accommodate aircraft using a new Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Positioning System (GPS) Standard Instrument Approach Procedure (SIAP) at Fillmore Municipal Airport. The FAA is proposing this action to enhance the safety and management of aircraft operations at the airport.

This action proposes to establish Class E airspace at Troutdale, OR, to accommodate aircraft using Non-directional Radio Beacon (NDB) Global Positioning System (GPS) Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) at Portland-Troutdale Airport. This action would enhance the safety and management of instrument flight rules (IFR) operations at the airport. This action also would amend the geographic coordinates of the Class D airspace area at the airport.

This action proposes special conditions for the AeroMech, Incorporated; Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, model B200 and other part 23 aircraft listed on the AML. These airplanes as modified by AeroMech, Incorporated will have a novel or unusual design feature(s) associated with installation of the Mid-Continent Instruments MD835 Lithium Ion (Li-ion) battery. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These proposed special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards.

In response to a petition for rulemaking from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, NHTSA is issuing this final rule to facilitate the development and introduction of fuel cell vehicles, a type of electric-powered vehicle, and the next generation of hybrid and battery electric powered vehicles. It does so by revising the agency's standard regulating electrolyte spillage and electrical shock protection for electric-powered vehicles to align it more closely with the April 2005 version of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Recommended Practice for Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicle Battery Systems Crash Integrity Testing (SAE J1766).