Safety Agency Starts to Take Shape

Regulators are working to breathe life into the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration as 1999 comes to a close.

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Congress passed legislation creating the new agency in November in an effort to upgrade the status of truck and bus safety within the Department of Transportation. President Clinton signed it into law Dec. 9.

A draft of an organizational chart circulating around Washington, D.C., calls for the FMCSA to have four divisions and nine program offices — in addition to the 52 division offices and four regional service centers already operating. It marks the third restructuring of motor carrier oversight in 1999 — from the Office of Motor Carriers at the start of the year to the Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety in February to the Office of Motor Carrier Safety in October.

The actions taking place are a far cry from a year ago, when the Federal Highway Administration consolidated highway and motor carrier safety programs into one of five core business units (9-6, p. 24) as part of a “reinvention” of the agency. Jurisdiction over the safety programs was moved to the secretary of transportation’s office in October after Congress refused to provide funding unless they were removed from FHWA and led to the establishment of OMCS (11-8, p. 31).

For the full story, see the Dec. 27 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.