Cirillo: Safety More Important Than Trucking's Image

Julie Cirillo, the federal government’s top trucking regulator, wants the industry to know that when it comes to safety, she’s less interested in public perception than in saving lives.

Cirillo, who has run the Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety since February, says the industry has an image problem with the American public, noting that “they are probably not pro-truck.” However, she believes that if real safety problems are addressed, the perception problem will take care of itself.

“I could do more with image, but what I want to do is reduce fatalities,” she said, relaxing in a comfortable chair in her office overlooking L’Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C. “I’m not into form. If that’s not good enough, they probably have the wrong person in this job.”

Less than six months at her post, Cirillo is at the center of several controversies, one of them the long-standing debate over revising hours-of-service rules for drivers. After considering a negotiated rulemaking on new policies, Cirillo and her colleagues at the Federal Highway Administration rejected the idea as unworkable. The bureaucrats thought that several players were too far apart in their views and too unwilling to compromise.

They also rejected their consultants’ recommendation to put together an advisory panel to find consensus on a scientific basis for hours-of-service rulemaking. The agency already knows all it needs to know about fatigue, Cirillo said.

Cirillo said she’s aiming at proposing a rule by the end of the summer and settling on a final rule by the end of next year.

For the full story, see the July 12 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.