Obama Nominates Senate Aide Strickland to Become Next NHTSA Administrator

This story appears in the Dec. 14 print edition of Transport Topics.

President Obama has nominated David Strickland to be the next administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the White House announced.

Strickland, 41, has worked at the Senate Commerce Committee since 2001. He is senior Democratic counsel to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and its Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Insurance.

As the lead staff attorney, Strickland has been helping senators oversee NHTSA, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the White House said.

He has been particularly active in overseeing legislative issues related to drunken-driving prevention, automobile safety and fuel efficiency standards, including helping to craft the 2007 law that requires a 40% increase in the fuel economy for passenger cars and light trucks.

In 2004, he was named congressional staffer of the year by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Tim Lynch, senior vice president for American Trucking Associations, said ATA staff has worked with Strickland on numerous safety issues and knows him as a “tireless advocate for highway safety.”

“He understands freight transportation systems, and we look forward to continuing to work with him to improve safety for all modes,” Lynch said.

The Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a Dec. 15 confirmation hearing for Strickland and several other recent Obama nominees.

Strickland is Obama’s second nominee for the post. The first nominee, Charles Hurley, CEO of MADD, withdrew his nomination in May under pressure from environmental groups, who questioned his commitment to tougher fuel-efficiency requirements.

David Kelly, NHTSA’s former acting administrator and a former policy staffer at the Department of Transportation, said he worked extensively with Strickland in writing the 2005 highway reauthorization bill.

“David is one of the more thorough Hill staffers I’ve come across,” Kelly, now a transportation safety consultant, told Transport Topics. “He’s a very smart guy, knows the issues and knows where to go to find the answers to questions.”

“I think David is going to be good at putting out rules in line with the safety mission of the agency that are not necessarily overly punitive to industry,” Kelly said.

Kelly said Strickland, if confirmed by the Senate, will be faced with some tough issues that will need to be dealt with almost immediately.

Those issues will include finishing up the fuel efficiency rule for cars and light trucks, and addressing congressional concerns and questions arising from the Cash for Clunkers program.

“And distracted driving is taking a huge focus,” Kelly said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of distracted driving issues in his future.”

Kelly also said that seat belt and drunken-driving prevention programs will “need leadership coming out of the administrator’s office.”

In addition, Strickland could leave a significant impression on the trucking industry’s future as NHTSA moves forward with study of heavy truck fuel efficiency and the agency’s Vehicle Safety Rulemaking and Research Priority Plan.

Some of the future trucking issues the agency could influence include rules on stability control systems, forward collision avoidance and mitigation systems, electronic data recorders and truck tires.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, called Strickland an “outstanding selection” for the post.

“He is well-respected by the members of the Commerce Committee and all of the stakeholders who work with NHTSA, including the industry, safety advocates, and environmental groups,” Rockefeller said in a Dec. 7 statement.

Rockefeller said the Harvard Law School graduate is the Senate’s leading staff expert on fuel economy and vehicle safety, and Strickland played a role in the passage of several major pieces of legislation related to NHTSA, including the current highway reauthorization.

Strickland also served as associate director of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America from 1996 to 2001, according to the White House.

Earlier this month, Obama also nominated David Matsuda to head the Maritime Administration. Matsuda has been acting administrator of the agency since July.

The White House also said Obama nominated Michael Huerta, a DOT official in the Clinton administration, to be deputy administrator at the Federal Aviation Administration.