EYE ON TRUCKING: It might be a good thing if Congress made top FMCSA job a career position

By LYNDON FINNEY
The Trucker Staff

8/15/2008

You may not be familiar with the name Dave Johnson, but if you watched the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness or the Belmont in the 1990s, you’re probably familiar with his voice.

Johnson called those races for ABC television and his signature line — “and down the stretch they come” — is instantly recognizable by even non-racing fans, so much so that even David Letterman will sometimes call up Johnson on the eve of the Kentucky Derby and have him repeat the phrase over and over.

We were reminded of Johnson’s line on Aug. 4, a Monday, when in a parting shot the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) slipped in a two-year extension for the cross-border project after a Congressional committee the preceding Thursday (July 31), passed a bill to stop long-haul trucking between Mexico and the U.S.  Then Congress departed for an August recess.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers’ Association stated in response to FMCSA’s move: “while the cat’s away the mice will play.”

The whole thing may be a lame duck maneuver, anyway, since it remains to be seen what’s going to happen at DOT and FMCSA next January. It will mark the first change in administration since FMCSA really got going.

Yes, we know that there was one year under the Clinton Administration, but all the major rules have been issued during the Bush Administration.

We understand that even a new Republican administration might have its own transportation agency, let alone what will happen if there is a Democratic administration.

We believe that both the Hours of Service rule and the Mexico truck project will come under heavy fire.

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FMCSA’s extension of the cross-border project came on the heels of a flurry of separate e-mails alerting us to three virtually simultaneous media events staged by the Department of Transportation. One might think continuing the Mexico truck project for two years would warrant three media events. But that’s not what the press conferences were about.

First came a notice that Acting Federal Highway Administrator Jim Ray would “announce a new plan to refocus, reform and renew the federal approach to the nation's highways” during a visit to Eaton Corp.'s Innovation Center in Southfield, Mich.

Then we learned that Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator John Hill “would provide information about U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peter’s comprehensive plan to maintain and improve the Interstate highway system” at a media event at the Elyria, Ohio, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems headquarters.

Both of these events were scheduled for the morning of July 29.

Then came word that early in the afternoon of the same date, Peters herself would host a media conference call to “outline the department’s new plan to reform the federal approach to the nation’s highway, transit and safety programs.”

Before Hill’s event, the DOT released a copy of Peter’s prepared remarks, and shortly after Hill spoke, we got a copy of his prepared remarks, which contained much of the same language as the Peter’s text.

We did some quick checking and our assumptions proved accurate.

The DOT had planned this national blitz to reveal its strategy for the next highway reauthorization bill, which won’t come up for a vote until next year.

In other words, after President Bush, Peters, Hill, Ray, et al, have packed their bags and left Washington.

So “down the stretch they come” with a plan that very well may not even get past the desk of the next Secretary of Transportation.

Peters admitted such to a reporter.

“Certainly, Congress may choose to take a different direction and whomever is the next president may choose to take a different direction, but we all I think agree we have to face these challenges and we all agree that the system as it is working today is simply not working,” she said. “Congress intends to start hearings this fall on this issue, so I think our timing is where it should be.”

Neither will the DOT’s plan, which would rely much more heavily on tolls and other alternative sources of funding, i.e., public-private partnerships, sit well with the trucking industry.

A few things struck us as we watched the day’s events unfold.

First, why didn’t the DOT just tell the media that three key officials would fan out across the country to talk about the plan?

They’re all in the same building and even though different public affairs officers manage the media relations for Peters, Hill and Ray, they all talk to each other on a regular basis and work well together.

Second, were the events of July 29 an effort to take some of the spotlight off the release of the GAO report earlier in July about CDL holders who are receiving full disability checks for various medical issues?

No, was the answer.

The highway proposal blitz was in the planning stages before the GAO report was leaked to The Associated Press, although the DOT, as required by law, did know the content of the report long before it became public.

Third was the monotone delivery of Peters, who read her statement and answered reporter’s questions with very little excitement in her voice, and left us wondering if she was only going through the motions and knew the DOT’s plan would likely wind up on the scrap heap next year.

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We’ve also wondered during the past few weeks whether Peters, Hill and other top ranking officials at DOT and FMCSA didn’t feel like they were on the ABC show “Wipeout.”

If you haven’t seen it, that the show where contestants try to navigate various obstacles, but usually wind up in the water and mud.

Traversing one obstacle requires the contestants to walk along a narrow board and try to dodge boxing gloves that fly out of the wall.

Peters and Hill probably feel as though they’ve been walking on that board recently, what with the GAO report, the House hearing on driver fitness where Rep. James Oberstar loudly criticized the FMCSA and chastised Hill for not showing up (FMCSA Assistant Administrator and Chief Safety Officer Rose McMurray was the agency’s witness that day).

Then, the day after the highway proposal media blitz, out came another GAO report about truck drivers who flunk drugs tests at one carrier applying and getting hired at another carrier.

There’s little doubt that outside the airline industry, the trucking industry is probably the most regulated major industry in the country, as it should be.

Truckers who do drive with medical conditions that might hinder their ability to safely operate a truck and drug seekers should be taken off the road, and FMCSA is working as hard and fast as government red tape will allow to put in place rules to make sure the seats of our big rigs are filled with medically-fit drivers.

At the same time, it is comforting to know that both reports came out at a time when the industry’s safety record is improving every year, and that with a continued emphasis on safety by DOT, FMCSA, the American Trucking Associations, the Truckload Carriers Association and thousands of carriers, it will continue to be a safer industry.