FMCSA's Darling Returns to MATS to Hear From Drivers, Vendors
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The country’s top trucking regulator joined the opening day crowds at the Mid-America Trucking Show here on March 31 because he said he wanted to hear from drivers and vendors.
“I’m getting good feedback. I talked to one gentleman who just retired after 42 years who really enjoyed his career and his profession as a trucker. And he understood and appreciated the compliance because safety, mobility and profitability are not mutually exclusive,” Scott Darling, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s acting administrator, told Transport Topics in an exclusive interview.
TT caught up with Darling shortly after an FMCSA-led panel discussion on the upcoming implementation of the online unified registration system. The system combines multiple reporting forms into a single “smart form” streamlining the registration and renewal process in the trucking industry.
“Other truckers I’ve talked to are appreciative that I’m out here, that I’m working with the industry because it’s going to take all of us to make sure that we have safe roads,” Darling said, adding, “to make sure that the goods that are loaded at a warehouse make it to the shelves, or the passenger who’s picked up at a bus depot gets to his destination.”
This was Darling’s second visit to the annual trucking expo. FMCSA staff participated in several panel presentations and hosted an information booth, while Darling said he preferred to walk the exhibit floor and sit in on the panels. He donned casual gear and a Red Sox hat, instead of opting for the Washington, D.C., power suit look.
Darling is awaiting a vote in the U.S. Senate on his confirmation to become FMCSA administrator. The Republican-led upper chamber has yet to schedule the vote. A committee on March 3 easily advanced his nomination. Darling, who had served as the agency’s general counsel prior to becoming acting administrator, said he intends to continue leading FMCSA as if status quo while waiting to be confirmed.
Prior to FMCSA, Darling was deputy chief of staff and assistant general counsel at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. That’s the public transit agency serving the greater Boston area. Darling hails from the Boston area and brags about rooting for the Red Sox and other New England franchises.
