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For years, fleets have outsourced any number of services, from routine maintenance to information technology services to recruiting and hiring. But outsourcing a fleet’s entire accident management program is an idea that is just beginning to get noticed in the trucking world.

Truck sales remained strong during March, as fleets bought 17,308 heavy-duty vehicles, 33% more than they bought in March 2011. That’s the good news. 

The trucking industry’s widely held concerns that recent changes to the federal safety-rating program are causing sudden, dramatic shifts in some carriers’ scores is justified, according to an analysis by several companies that help fleets manage their safety programs.

Officials from truck and engine maker Navistar Inc. have disputed fuel-efficiency claims made by its rivals and said that an independent testing agency has found its over-the-road International ProStar model has better “fluid economy” than three of its rivals.

Kulwant Singh Gill has been sentenced to nearly 11 years in federal prison for defrauding dozens of motor carriers and brokers out of nearly $500,000.

U.S. truck makers sold 17,308 Class 8 trucks in March, a 33% increase from the same month last year, but the news comes as several potentially troubling signs have appeared.

Driver turnover rates for truckload carriers unexpectedly dipped at the end of last year, but the American Trucking Associations economist who runs the survey characterized the shift as a temporary “reprieve” rather than a durable change in trend.

Standard & Poor’s is warning that Congress’ failure to pass a long-term transportation funding bill could provoke a credit-rating crisis similar to the one last summer when Congress balked at raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

The president of the National Private Truck Council said the 2012 Education Management Conference & Exhibition will include a focus on corporations expanding the capacity and capabilities of their in-house fleets.

For 18 years, regulators have been wrestling with a congressional mandate to issue a rule prohibiting trucks from proceeding into railroad crossings unless there is adequate space on the other side to avoid getting trapped on the tracks.