Working With Federal Officials Gives Carriers Best Chance to Affect Rulemaking Process

GRAPEVINE, Texas — One of the most effective ways for motor carriers to have more effect on the federal rulemaking process is to collaborate with agencies on research that yields valuable data, officials said.

And the best time to share opinions on a rule that’s being made is long before the comment period that follows its initial publication in the Federal Register, said Ron Medford, deputy administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“The important work happens long before there’s a proposed regulation,” Medford said. “The most important component is in the early stages of research — when they’re writing the specifications for the rules.”

Medford spoke to a group of trucking executives here at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition. He and other federal safety officials spoke at an Oct. 18 educational session of the Trucking Industry Mobility & Technology Coalition on the future of government and industry partnerships.

It is during the early stages that carriers can best contribute by assisting federal officials with accurate data, said Greg Nadeau, deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration.

Nadeau urged executives to think of the process as a two-way street, where the government and the trucking community can work together to help each other.

“The foundation for everything that we do is based on timely, accurate and accessible data,” Medford said. “It is really and truly the lifeblood of the safety work that we do.”

Medford said the agency’s reviews of science and data most often are the source that leads to the development of new federal freight programs and regulatory actions.

“It’s one of the important ways that we gather information for our regulatory development process, which provides the opportunity for us to hear from many of the stakeholders,” Medford said. “Another way we gather information is through collaborative research.”

Collaborative research has lead to such successful initiatives as the truck fuel-efficiency standard, the freight performance management program, the Electronic Freight Management Initiative and development of a soon-to-be released proposal to mandate electronic stability systems for heavy trucks, officials said.

“Information shared by fleets also has provided invaluable information about on-road experience with [electronic stability controls],” Medford said. “Because of this we have a better understanding of the unique testing issues and this program certainly could not have been as far along without the vital data provided by industry.”

Another program, the Smart Roadside Initiative, was the result of cooperation between trucking and federal agencies, Nadeau said.

Nadeau said the program is an effort to relocate basic compliance checks to the roadside, away from fixed weigh stations, and concentrate on carriers and drivers with compliance problems.

“This not only delays the freight supply chain, but it poses a safety risk from trucks extending back onto the highway,” Nadeau said.