Editorial: Improved Prospects for a Truck Safety Administration

The legislative process is slow and often Byzantine, but every now and then, progress is apparent to the naked eye. Such was the case on Capitol Hill last week as Congress took tangible steps toward ordering the creation of a federal administration to oversee trucking’s safety programs.

Progress was made on several fronts.

Truck safety advocate Joan Claybrook told a Senate subcommittee on Sept. 29 that she could accept having responsibility for enforcing motor carrier safety regulations vested in a separate motor carrier administration. This dramatic turnaround is a clear signal that trucking has been successful in illustrating the need to create a federal agency whose sole responsibility is safety.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain said that creating a federal motor carrier administration is one of his top priorities. And the Teamsters union, which previously had called only for improvements in truck safety, came out unequivocally in support of a modal administration.

Also last week, members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees agreed to keep the heat on their colleagues by cutting off funding for motor carrier safety programs unless they are moved out of the Federal Highway Administration. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) is to be commended for shepherding the funding cutoff through the House.

Last week’s activities clearly illustrate the growing congressional support for strong action to improve truck safety. It is disappointing, therefore, that the Department of Transportation remains opposed to a motor carrier administration. While no one questions Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater’s commitment to safety, we continue to disagree with his view that increasing the profile of the Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety within the FHWA is sufficient.

As American Trucking Associations President Walter B. McCormick Jr. pointed out in his Senate testimony last week, 82% of U.S. freight transportation spending went to trucking last year, but responsibility for overseeing the safety and efficiency of the industry falls to a small office within the nation’s highway building agency. Both trucking and the motoring public deserve a federal agency that has truck and bus safety as its core mission.