OOIDA Seeks Ferro’s Resignation
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is calling for the resignation of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration chief Anne Ferro.
OOIDA sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on June 5 saying that its board members had unanimously voted to ask Foxx to request that Ferro step down from her FMCSA post.
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“We have asked the secretary to put into place new leadership at FMCSA,” said Jim Johnston, the president and CEO of OOIDA. “The agency needs to be headed by someone who will approach professional truck drivers with the respect and fair treatment that their important work and commitment to safety demand.”
Johnston added that Ferro has a “clear bias against truckers and the trucking industry.”
Transport Topics is seeking a response from Ferro’s office.
Ferro appeared before a Senate panel June 3 and was questioned about elements of FMCSA’s hours-of-service rule enacted last July. Ferro said the rules were working, and that the implementation of electronic logging devices “will improve and mitigate the impact of fatigue-related driving and fatigue-related crashes.”
She also published a blog post June 3 that argued “suspending the current hours-of-service safety rules will expose families and drivers to greater risk every time they're on the road.”
But on June 5, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 21-9 to adopt an amendment offered by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) that would suspend the hours-of-service restart rule while the agency conducts a one-year study. The amendment was part of a fiscal 2015 transportation spending bill that was sent on to the full Senate.
Foxx defended FMCSA's rules, saying that they help save an estimated 19 lives each year.
"[DOT] and our [FMCSA] conducted unprecedented levels of research, including public input and the largest real-world study of its kind in developing a rule that protects everyone on the road," Foxx said in a June 5 statement.
On June 6 the American Trucking Associations acknowledged that much of the industry is “justified in having serious concerns” about Ferro’s tenure at FMCSA, but the group stopped short of calling for her resignation. In a statement to Transport Topics, ATA noted that recent efforts on Ferro’s behalf to reach out to ATA’s leadership could lead to “a more open, productive and fruitful relationship going forward that will result in safer highways for everyone.”
Ferro was appointed to her position by President Obama in 2009. Ferro also led the Maryland Motor Truck Association as its president and CEO from 2003 to 2009 and served as Maryland's motor vehicle administrator from 1997 to 2003.
OOIDA represents the interests of professional truck drivers and small-business trucking companies. OOIDA was established in 1973 in the Kansas City, Mo. area and claims nearly 150,000 active members nationwide.
