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Concern as Trucking Industry Lobbyist Begins FMCSA Chief Confirmation Hearings

California trucking accident lawyers regularly follow legislation impacting trucking safety, and other developments that impact the safety of truckers and the motorists who share the roads with them.  This week, President Barrack Obama’s nomination for head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration began confirmation hearings in the Senate.  What trucking accident lawyers and safety advocates have been concerned about is that nominee Anne Ferro served as a trucking industry lobbyist for the last 6 years. Ferro headed the Maryland affiliate of the trucking industry group, American Trucking Associations. She has been a major lobbyist for the trucking industry in that state.

Ferro’s past as a lobbyist is already raising concerns among senators at the confirmation hearings. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), who is the chairman of the commerce committee’s transportation panel, raised questions about Ferro’s 6-year long tenure as a lobbyist for the Maryland trucking industry. According to Lautenberg, given Ferro’s close ties to the trucking industry, there is concern about how she would be able to take the kind of firm measures needed to get long-neglected safety measures at the FMCSA, up and running. Lautenberg said it right when he called the FMCSA in “dire need of reform”.  The question is: Is Ferro the right person to be heading those reform programs?

Among the many things going against Ferro’s favor as the right choice for head of the FMCSA, is a letter that she co-signed with an American Trucking Associations official. In the letter to the Baltimore Sun, Ferro came out strongly in favor of a decision made by the Bush Administration just before it vacated the White House, to increase the number of consecutive hours truckers could drive. Ferro argued that the rule could actually improve truck safety. However, California truck accident lawyers, safety advocates and many lawmakers had criticized the regulation for increasing the chances that fatigued drives will doze off at the wheel, causing an accident. Truck driver fatigue is one of the most important contributing factors to tractor trailer accidents in California, and across the country. A fatigued truck driver is likely to doze off at the wheel, increasing the risk to his own safety, as well as the safety of motorists on the road.

Not everything Ferro has done has been all bad. According to the New York Times, when she served as the CEO of the Maryland Motor Truck Association between 1997 and 2003, she was responsible for phasing in a graduated licensing program for new truck drivers. She was also responsible for implementing ignition interlock device programs for truck drivers convicted on druck driving. However, these achievements seem to pale when you consider that she vehemently supported the rule to increase consecutive working hours for truckers in the face of opposition from so many, and evidence that this could contribute to truck accidents.

At the confirmation hearings, Ferro described highway safety as her passion.  However, even before she is confirmed, the Truck Safety Coalition which is a group of organizations pushing for more truck safety, described Ferro as an “apologist for the trucking industry”.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of truck accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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