Cirillo Does Not Support Separate Trucking Agency

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The government's top motor carrier safety regulator thinks setting a dedicated trucking agency apart from the highway office is not a good idea.

Julie Cirillo, director since January of the Federal Highway Administration's merged Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety, thinks that roadway design and construction are essential elements in the basic equation of carrier operational safety.

"It is my personal view -- and let me emphasize it is personal -- that the creation of a separate motor carrier administration would be a mistake," she said. "I believe separating the driver and vehicle from the facility on which they operate is counterproductive."

That is what Cirillo told a convention room full of state, provincial and federal enforcement officers from the United States and Canada in her May 10 address to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance.

Cirillo helped design the restructuring of FHWA in late 1998 that merged the carrier and highway safety offices.

CVSA has joined those urging Congress to move trucking into an agency of its own, on par with the rail, aviation and maritime administrations within the Department of Transportation.

The push for a separate modal administration seems to be gaining momentum in Washington, especially now that DOT's own inspector general has said that truck and bus safety needs such an agency.

For the full story, see the May 17 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.