‘Plenty on Plate’ for FMCSA This Year, Ferro Says

WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will move forward with a host of developing rules and regulations regarding trucking this year, Administrator Anne Ferro said Tuesday.

“We’ve got plenty on our plate,” Ferro said in outlining some of the agency’s plans for the year at a Jan. 24 session on FMCSA’s recent research and analysis at the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting.

The regulations include medical examiners, a drug an alcohol clearinghouse for drivers, a mandate for electronic onboard recorders — and changes to its Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.

In the first quarter, FMCSA will publish a rule setting training and testing standards for medical professionals who conduct required physicals on commercial drivers.

The agency will maintain the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners to help drivers find certified examiners.

“It’s a very important tool; it’s one that I think we’re all very excited about,” Ferro said of the registry.

By the third quarter, FMCSA will propose creating a clearinghouse to track commercial drivers’ positive drug and alcohol tests, she added.

FMCSA will push ahead with its universal EOBR mandate and will schedule “listening sessions” to gather input.

Development of the mandate will take into account an August court ruling that struck down a more targeted EOBR mandate for failing to consider that the devices could enable carriers to harass drivers.

Changes also will come this year to CSA, and the agency will offer previews of some of the changes in the second quarter, Ferro said.

“Among the things you’ll see in this preview … will be a proposal for a crash accountability process,” she said, that will allow a carrier to tell the agency it is not responsible for a certain crash. FMCSA will then analyze the crash and assign accountability based on its determination of fault.