The Iowa Motor Truck Association is unveiling a new division, Iowa Truck Services, that will provide licensing, permitting, safety and compliance solutions for member and non-member motor carriers,

as well as farmers and independent businesses with delivery operations.

"Now more than ever, with new regulations just around the corner, any and all businesses with trucking operations need to focus on compliance and safety," said Brenda Neville, president of the IMTA. "For many years, we have offered industry-best practices and comprehensive safety solutions to our member firms. Now, we are expanding the scope and reach of this proven expertise to further accommodate emerging marketplace needs."

A key service will be consulting on the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration's new regulatory approach, Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, or CSA 2010. The new initiative is designed to help the FMCSA and its state partners identify carriers and drivers with safety issues, and then intervene with corrective measures.

CSA 2010 extends the reach of regulatory and safety compliance. Farmers and independent businesses with delivery operations now will be required to comply with the same regulations imposed on interstate commercial trucking companies. It also creates more checks and balances, with a new intervention process. As part of CSA 2010, carriers and drivers will be assessed monthly from data collected on all roadside inspections.

Any carrier found deficient in one of the seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) will be issued a Letter of Intervention by the FMCSA. The carrier then will be required to submit a Corrective Action Process and work with regulatory officials to ensure processes are in place to reduce and eliminate future violations in the deficient area.

Trucking industry leaders say, without question, the new rules will have a greater impact in the marketplace than any other new regulatory change in recent years.

For the past few years, the safety department at the Iowa Motor Truck Association - which is now part of the Iowa Truck Services team - has been preparing for the regulatory changes. It has conducted several CSA 2010 sessions with IMTA member firms.

In addition to CSA 2010 consulting, Iowa Truck Services offers motor carriers of all sizes a full line of licensing, permitting and IFTA recordkeeping assistance. With its extensive and long-standing professional relationships with officials at the Iowa Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Enforcement, Iowa Highway Patrol, FMCSA and other state and federal regulatory agencies, Iowa Truck Services can also provide thorough Safety and Regulatory Training, Mock Regulatory Compliance Audits and Corrective Action Plan development and implementation, among other services.