More Safety Rules Expected Soon, Ferro Says
This story appears in the Oct. 11 print edition of Transport Topics.
ARLINGTON, Va. — Even with truck-related fatalities on the decline, the head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration told a group of driver school executives the agency was still working on a series of rules that could be out before the end of the year.
Anne Ferro, speaking to the Commercial Vehicle Training Association here Oct. 1, said the 20% decline in truck-related crashes during 2009 were “very significant numbers and both a real reflection of the collective impact of enforcement and the safety work.”
“I think everybody was quite relieved to see that decline, and early indications are that in 2010 that decline will continue while the economy is growing,” Ferro said.
Specifically, Ferro said the agency’s commercial learner’s permit rule is one she expect will be out by early next year and possibly at the end of this year.
The rule will incorporate tougher licensing standards and “improved fraud protection measures,” the FMCSA leader said.
Ferro also said the agency is in the process of finalizing its entry-level driver training rule, and it could be sent to the White House for review in the coming months.
The agency also is working on a series of distracted driving proposals, and recently published a rule banning texting by commercial drivers.
“We have the ban on texting, which takes effect Oct. 27,” Ferro said. “The second part was developing some restrictions on cell-phone use and we expect to see that some time later this year.”
That proposal is currently at the White House for review.
FMCSA also has sent a second proposal, which would cover the use of cell phones by commercial drivers to the White House, based on a report filed by a safety advisory panel on distracted driving.
A third piece, following the texting ban and the cell-phone rule, is looking at “the full concept of distracted driving,” Ferro said, taking “into effect the full range of things going on in the cab of that vehicle.”
To do that, Ferro said FMCSA “took the body of work that the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee did” and used it as the basis of a proposal to seek public comment on the issue.
Ferro said the examination would look at other technologies in the cab “because there are safety efficiencies, there are gains to some of that equipment. There’s proper use, and there’s improper use.”
Based on the reaction to the proposal, Ferro said “there might not even be a rule” governing other devices such as mapping equipment and dispatch communications equipment.
