Inside This Issue...

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) unveiled a public service announcement featuring former NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace, currently an analyst for ESPN and ABC Sports, who reminds truckers that they have a responsibility to drive safely and buckle up.

The PSA, "Be Buckled. Be Ready.," is aimed at increasing the number of truckers who regularly use a safety belt. While 81 percent of the general driving population wears a safety belt, only 59 percent of commercial vehicle drivers buckle up when they climb behind the wheel. In 2006, 45 percent of truckers killed in a crash were not wearing safety belts. FMCSA regulations require all commercial vehicle drivers to use proper restraints. The PSA can be seen at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/safety-belt/rusty-wallace/rusty-wallace-main.htm.

For more information regarding FMCSA and the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Belt Program, the public/private coalition tasked with increasing safety belt use among commercial motor vehicle drivers, visit www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safetybelt.

The Office of State and Local Training Advisory Committee (OSLTAC) meets Nov. 8, 2007, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on St. Simons Island, Georgia. The meeting is open to the public. Written material, comments, and/or requests to make an oral presentation must be sent to the committee by Oct. 19. Please view the Federal Register notice for contact information and submission details.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announces that it has published an opportunity to apply for FY2008 Border Enforcement Grant (BEG) funding on the grants.gov Web site . Section 4110 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy For Users (SAFETEA-LU) established the BEG program. The program is a discretionary grant program that provides funding for border commercial motor vehicle safety programs and related enforcement activities and projects. An entity, or a state that shares a land border with another country is eligible to receive grant funding. To apply for funding, applicants must register with grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov/applicants/get_registered.jsp) and submit an application in accordance with instructions provided. Applications for grant funding must be submitted electronically to the FMCSA through the grants.gov Web site. More details are available in the Federal Register notice online.

On Oct. 4, the Senate passed a concurrent resolution supporting the goals and ideals of a world day of remembrance for road crash victims. 40,000 people in the U.S. and 1,200,000 people globally, die in road crashes each year. Another 20,000,000-50,000,000 people globally are injured each year as a result of speeding motor vehicles, the increasing use of motor vehicles and rapid urbanization.

The World Health Organization has predicted that by the year 2020, the annual number of deaths from motor vehicle crashes is likely to surpass the annual number of deaths from AIDS. The U.S. Senate passed the resolution (S.Con.Res.39) which supports a United Nations General Assembly resolution designating the third Sunday of November as a day of remembrance for road crash victims and their families. View the entire resolution online.

A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was published on Oct. 2, in the Federal Register regarding proposed changes to vehicle identification numbers (VINs) used on motor vehicles. The NPRM is the result of several years of work by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), vehicle manufacturers and other interested parties to address a concern that manufacturers were rapidly running out of unique VINs to assign to vehicles. 

AAMVA participated in these discussions and supporrted efforts to make changes to the VIN system that would not require adding additional characters to future VINs. The proposal is to retain the 17 character VIN and allow some previous alpha-only or numeric-only fields to become alpha-numeric fields. Making the changes outlined in the NPRM will provide enough unique VINs to last another 30 years. If your jurisdiction decides to submit comments regarding the NPRM, please send a copy of your submission to Keith Kiser, vice president, Vehicle Services, AAMVA. 

View the Federal Register notice for more details.

October may signal the coming of fall but for the AARP Driver Safety Program, October means Driver Safety Program Month. 

AARP’s Driver Safety Program is focusing efforts nationwide to encourage growth of the Driver Safety Program course: to raise program awareness, attract course participants, recruit volunteers, and attract and increase sponsors. The course, which is offered in the classroom and online is designed to help participants understand the effects of aging on driving; learn driving strategies that take into account the changes we experience as we age; identify the most common crash situations we face; update knowledge and understanding of today’s roads, vehicles and other road users; and identify when driving may no longer be safe.

For more information on course locations, volunteer opportunities or to find out how a group/organization can become a sponsor, call AARP toll-free at 1-888-227-7669 or visit www.aarp.org/drive.  For more information about older driver safety issues, contact Lori Cohen at LCcohen@aarp.org.

AAMVA is pleased to announce that the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has approved the AAMVA Motor Vehicle and Traffic Law Institute for 15 Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits. This includes 13 standard hours and two hours of ethics instruction. Attendees wishing to apply for CLE credits in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania should visit the Law Institute's "Materials from Past Events" page and click on the link in the upper right hand corner of the page under "Related Content."

"AAMVA, what can I say. It has been a large part of my business life in my 37 years with motor vehicles." Read the rest of Bonnie's blog.

If you haven’t already done so, please respond to the following surveys.

• New Mexico – Temp and Demo Tag (Ends 10/16/2007)
• Connecticut – Electronic Lien Title Request (Ends 10/16/2007)

The updated preliminary program for the 2007 AAMVA Fall Workshop is now available! Checkout the confirmed speakers and list of federal partners joining AAMVA in Glendale, Ariz., Nov. 5-8.

Submit your PREPAID workshop registration by Oct. 9 and be entered to win an iPod! Register today! Don't miss out on group rates and availability at the brand-new Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel. Call (800) 468-3571 to reserve your room. Visit the Fall Workshop page for more information and a complete program!