Editorial: Sandberg Departs FMCSA

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

nnette Sandberg will be missed after she steps down March 1 as head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. (Click here for news story.)

Sandberg, only the second head of the six-year-old agency that oversees the safety of the nation’s trucking and bus fleets, has been a calm, professional hand at the helm during often turbulent times.

Her decision to resign from FMCSA — she notified President Bush Feb. 1 — surprised and disappointed many in the industry, who came to appreciate her steady, even-handed approach to the issues confronting trucking.

In the words of Bill Graves, president of American Trucking Associations, Sandberg and her staff have “consistently demonstrated a willingness to openly examine motor carrier concerns and issues while maintaining the highest commitment to highway safety.”

Sandberg’s boss, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, agreed. He praised her “exceptional record of accomplishment. Under her leadership, FMCSA made significant progress in improving the safety of commercial vehicles, including reducing the large-truck fatality rate to its lowest level ever recorded.” The rate is reflected in the most recent statistics released by the Department of Transportation.

Sandberg also helped winnow the huge regulatory backlog she found on her first day at work. This backlog was cut by 68% during her three years at FMCSA.

During Sandberg’s tenure, the agency proposed two hours-of-service rules to modify how and when drivers work. The first attempt — a much-improved version over an earlier proposal — was later overturned by a federal appeals court. The second rule, which is now in effect, also has been challenged in court.

While we have taken issue with some portions of the hours rule and have asked the agency to reconsider some elements of the plan, most of the trucking industry has accepted FMCSA’s regulation as fair and responsible, overall.

We know how hard Sandberg has been working and how seriously she has taken her job. It’s not easy trying to referee the kinds of fights that trucking and its critics have been embroiled in over recent years. And we know how wearing that kind of job can be.

Mineta praised Sandberg for working “hard to foster a commitment to safety and a dedication to accomplishment” within DOT, and wished her “the best of success in her future endeavors.” We couldn’t agree with him more, and we hope that we haven’t seen the last of Annette Sandberg.

This editorial appears in the Feb. 6 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.