FMCSA to Shift Focus to Drivers’ Health, Qualifications

LEXANDRIA, Va. — The head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said that agency planned to focus future regulations on drivers’ health and how drivers become qualified to operate commercial vehicles.

Annette Sandberg told attendees of the National Safety Council’s Truck and Bus Safety and Security Symposium here the results of its recent large-truck crash causation study, still under review, were prompting FMCSA to realign its thinking.

“There are some key data elements that are going to be coming out of that study that we believe really are going to change our focus at the federal level and that of our state partners,” Sandberg said Nov. 15. “Primarily, in that we know that driver-causal factors are a huge part of what creates or leads up to a crash event.”