Shannon Newton
President, ATA
Every once in a while, with considerable effort and intention, I get my inbox under control. Emails are answered, messages are filed, fewer lines appear in bold and the unread count briefly resembles something close to my age. For a day or two, everything feels more manageable.
Then come the meetings, travel and magazine deadlines. Emails get buried, old habits return and the unread count creeps back toward the number of days in a year.
Progress is not always permanent. Solving a problem once is easier than building the systems that keep it solved. The stakes are considerably higher at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, but the principle is much the same.
Over the past year, FMCSA has made remarkable progress on problems the industry and the agency have known about for years. Many of the rules, policies and technology upgrades now moving forward have been on the books or drawing board for more than a decade.
Under Administrator Derek Barrs, FMCSA is tackling that backlog. Focused leadership and strategic priorities are producing real results.
Nearly 10,000 commercial driver training schools have been removed from the federal registry. More than 700 high-risk carriers have been investigated, prompting hundreds to cease operations. More than 194,000 non-domiciled CDLs will no longer qualify under strengthened requirements, 27,000 drivers have been placed out of service for English-language proficiency violations, and more than 3,000 visas have been revoked through cabotage enforcement.
Those results are impressive. Sustaining them is the challenge.
FMCSA has just one employee for every 7,155 regulated entities. Its responsibilities have grown while staffing has remained relatively stagnant and critical technology has aged. An agency cannot run indefinitely on leadership and prioritization alone.
The Truckload Carriers Association has offered a roadmap. Its modernization proposal calls for the staffing, technology and funding FMCSA needs to fulfill its safety mission. It recommends secure carrier registration and vetting, stronger oversight of commercial driver licensing and training providers, better safety data and a modernized process for determining whether carriers are fit to operate.
This is not about growing government or placing more requirements on responsible carriers. It is about giving FMCSA the capacity to identify fraud, investigate high-risk operators and enforce existing rules fairly.
Arkansas carriers invest every day in qualified drivers, safe equipment and compliance. When others avoid those obligations, they create safety risks and gain an unfair advantage over the companies and drivers doing things right.
FMCSA’s mission is safety, not economic prosperity. But fair, consistent enforcement carries an important economic benefit: responsible carriers should not have to compete against operators whose business model depends on cutting corners, avoiding obligations or breaking the rules.
Consistent enforcement is not anti-trucking. It is pro-safety, pro-fairness and pro-responsible carrier. Congress should also codify successful reforms so clear standards and consistent enforcement do not change with every administration.
FMCSA’s accomplishments deserve to be celebrated. Our job now is to provide the structure and resources to sustain them—and make sure the inbox does not fill back up.
