FMCSA's Scott Darling Says Term as Acting Administrator Ends March 23
Scott Darling revealed that his tenure as acting administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will expire March 23 and that the White House is working on a permanent selection. Darling did not confirm if he was among the candidates.
“I currently serve at the will of the president, and I have 19 days left,” Darling said in answer to a question posed by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) during a March 4 hearing held by the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security.
“It’s my understanding that the administration is vetting some candidates for the position,” Darling said. “We will look to have adequate administrative support going forward after my term is over. So we will have somebody in place to run the agency.”
FMCSA REFORM: Sen. Fischer wants transparency, study of regulations.
HEARING REPLAY: Watch on Senate.gov site
A spokesman for the Department of Transportation said it will be up to the White House to handle announcements regarding FMCSA’s leadership. Secretary Anthony Foxx named Darling to the acting post in August, succeeding Anne Ferro, who stepped down from the agency to become president of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.
During the oversight hearing on truck safety programs and FMCSA regulations, Darling was peppered with critical questions about the agency’s hours-of-service restart provision and its driver and motor carrier safety scoring system.
He responded by expressing confidence in the agency’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program’s safety measurement system as an effective intervention tool and predictor of motor carrier crash risk.
“The information that is provided in the SMS data, is good information,” Darling said. “It’s the data that we use to prioritize our interventions, it’s data that is used by the public to make decisions, and it’s data that I’ve heard from carriers that they use to improve their performance.”
Darling also said that the agency’s review of 500 studies supported FMCSA’s implementation of a controversial hours-of-service restart provision, which was suspended by Congress until the end of September as the agency conducts a study to determine the extent of its safety value.
