FMCSA Lights First Candle
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration plans a party Jan. 3 to celebrate its first anniversary, although its critics might prefer a roast to skewer the agency for its performance.
Trying to launch a bureaucracy, with all of its attendant administrative duties, while also attempting to finalize one of the most far-reaching rulemakings in the history of trucking made for a tough year, said Timothy Lynch, president of the Motor Freight Carrier Association in Washington, D.C.
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Bolstered by a pledge by Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater to cut the number of motor carrier-related deaths in half in 10 years, trucking safety had an immediate rise in stature — and perhaps unrealistic expectations to go along with it — when FMCSA opened for business Jan. 1, 2000.
In its initial year of operation, the agency found itself understaffed — and lacking hiring authority — while going through the throes of organizing. Still in its infancy, FMCSA proceeded to bite off a regulatory chunk that proved too big to chew: the controversial proposal to revise truck driver hours of service.
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