Trucking news and briefs for Wednesday, March 5, 2025:
Oregon fleet, owner sentenced in emissions-delete case, attorney offers continued defense
The owner of a six-truck Oregon-based fleet and the fleet itself were recently sentenced to three years of probation and fined $101,510 “for knowingly and intentionally tampering with emissions monitoring devices in violation of the Clean Air Act,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.
According to court documents, Timothy Clancy and his fleet, Clancy Logistics Inc., tampered with federally mandated emissions devices by performing "deletes and tunes" to emission-control systems for at least 13 diesel tractor-trailers operated by his company between October 2019 and July 2023. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Clancy, as owner of Clancy Logistics, oversaw the illegal modification of vehicles, including engaging in and directing employees to remove the emissions-control equipment and tune the onboard diagnostic systems so they could no longer detect the removal of control equipment. Clancy Logistics knowingly operated the altered vehicles.
On Sept. 13, 2024, Clancy Logistics and Clancy were charged with two counts of Clean Air Act tampering. On Sept. 18, 2024, they each pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with a monitoring device.
[Related: Illegal emissions defeat device smuggling, distribution ring broken up]
In its sentencing memorandum, Acting U.S. Attorney William Narus said Clancy and his company “harmed the environment and the health of the community to save money on repairing and maintaining the trucks, placing profit over the public health,” adding that both “reaped the financial rewards of this criminal tampering.”
In response, Clancy’s attorney, Steven Ungar, contended that the tampering was not “intended or designed to generate profits by sale or distribution.” Ungar said Clancy deleted and tuned the 13 trucks “out of what he then believed in good faith was a business necessity, to keep his company solvent and operational, not to generate profits.”
Ungar added that Clancy couldn’t afford to buy new trucks, repair his aging fleet and keep his employees employed, so he was looking for “ways to keep these vehicles on the road.”
In text messages with emissions programmers revealed in court, Ungar noted that Clancy told the programmers that the reason for deleting and tuning emissions was “increasing fuel efficiency and decreasing diesel exhaust fluid consumption.”
“Mr. Clancy’s tampering was not done to generate profits through sales or distribution, but to save his companies money to allow them to continue to operate,” Ungar said. “The average cost savings each year from the deletion and tuning of the vehicles, including repair, maintenance, fuel and diesel exhaust fluid savings, were at least $2,114 per vehicle.”
[Related: Used-truck value, pricing: Emissions-system PM could play an increasing role]
I-40 road work in Arizona calls for intermittent closures
Drivers heading westbound on Interstate 40 in Kingman, Arizona, should plan ahead for overnight restrictions and full closures of up to 30 minutes the nights of March 10, 13, 17 and 20.
The Arizona Department of Transportation said the restrictions are needed while crews put bridge girders in place as part of its project to construct a freeway-to-freeway interchange between I-40 and U.S. 93.
The restrictions and closures are scheduled between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. on I-40 at White Cliffs Road. During those hours, WB I-40 will be narrowed to a single lane from just west of Stockton Hill Road to east of White Cliffs Road.
Drivers should expect intermittent closures of up to 30 minutes during those overnight hours, at which point traffic will be allowed to proceed through the work zone. Between 10 p.m. and 5:30 a.m., flaggers will stop and direct traffic through the work zone.
[Related: Worst road in America? Truckers single out I-40 in Arizona]
Drivewyze sudden slowdown, congestion alerts now available in Tennessee
In a move to reduce traffic accidents and fatalities, Tennessee has become the latest state to offer sudden slowdown alerts and a virtual sign network to commercial drivers through Drivewyze by Fleetworthy’s Smart Roadways product.
The alerts are sent through ELDs, tablets and smartphones and are available free of charge through Drivewyze Free. Tennessee is now the 20th state to offer messaging through the Smart Roadways service and the 13th to provide sudden slowdown alerts.
“Our goal is to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries linked to congested roadway conditions,” said Josh Brown, Director of Traffic Operations for the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). “It’s why we now have 2,800 miles of roadways covered under the Smart Roadways program. These ‘Heads-up’ alerts will give drivers time to slow down when there is sudden congestion.”
Sudden slowdown and congestion alerts are provided in partnership with INRIX, which uses advanced algorithms that analyze millions of anonymously connected vehicles traveling more than a billion miles daily in the U.S. This allows INRIX to identify and monitor traffic slowdowns. The information then goes to Drivewyze and its Smart Roadways platform.
Drivers receive messages such as “Sudden Slowdown Ahead” and “Congestion Ahead” 2 to 3 miles before the slowdown begins, allowing time to slow their speed.
Tennessee is also utilizing the Smart Roadways virtual sign messaging service, enabling the DOT to message drivers with custom alerts at specific geo-fenced locations. Messages can alert drivers of detours and notify them of an upcoming work zone.
According to TDOT’s 2025-2029 Strategic Highway Safety Plan, commercial vehicles were involved in 21% of severe work zone crashes from 2018 to 2022.
“Virtual sign messaging is something that can address that problem and make an impact in slowing trucks down in work zones,” Brown added.
In addition to alerts from Tennessee and other participating states, drivers with the Drivewyze Free app receive Drivewyze-sponsored alerts and advisories for high-rollover risk areas, low bridges, and mountain alerts, such as steep grade ahead, chain-up/brake check stations, and runaway ramps.
[Related: Highway-safety PSAs fit for our four-wheeled friends]
