Feds Look to Trucking Industry for Driver Training Committee Members
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is soliciting applications and nominations from trucking industry stakeholders to serve on an advisory committee to negotiate and help develop proposed regulations for entry-level truck driver training.
The committee will include representatives of organizations or groups with interests that are affected significantly by the subject matter of the proposed regulations, FMCSA said in a Dec. 10 Federal Register Announcement.
Applications and nominations will be accepted through Jan. 9, FMCSA said.
The agency said it anticipates that those serving on the committee will include representatives from driver organizations, commercial motor vehicle training organizations, motor carriers of property and passengers and their associations, state licensing agencies, state enforcement agencies, labor unions, safety advocacy groups and insurance companies.
The committee is expected to meet from February through June 2015 for one to two days every two to three weeks, or as necessary. Subcommittees may be formed to address specific issues.
The request follows an Aug. 19 announcement that the agency had hired an attorney “convener,” Richard Parker of the University of Connecticut’s school of law, to speak with interested parties about the prospects of a negotiated rulemaking for entry-level driver training.
The need for federal driver-training standards has been on federal regulators’ radar since the 1990s, but FMCSA has been challenged to come up with a well-documented, industry-supported proposal.
