WASHINGTON — Scott Darling, President Obama’s nominee to lead the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, assured a Senate panel at a confirmation hearing the agency will quickly proceed on a range of regulations and studies aimed at improving highway safety, as well as reforming the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.

WASHINGTON — Next month, the National Academy of Sciences will commence its review of a safety performance scoring program for carriers, the top federal trucking regulator told a Senate panel Jan. 20.

President Obama’s much-anticipated State of the Union Address on Jan. 12 focused little on infrastructure and freight transportation concerns, surprising stakeholders still praising last month’s enactment of a five-year highway law that had been six years in the making.

WASHINGTON — Policymakers, regulators and industry leaders need to adopt programs designed to reduce fatigue among truckers on the roads and other commercial operators to boost safety, the National Transportation Safety Board announced Jan. 13.

Most Washingtonians know traffic congestion in the nation’s capital is atrocious, the Memorial Bridge is falling apart and potholes greet your car at nearly every intersection.

President Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget request will include nearly $4 billion over a decade for the development of automated vehicles, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Jan. 14.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced it has lowered the minimum random drug-testing rate for truck drivers to 25% from 50% for 2016, a decision expected to save the industry millions of dollars in operational expenses.