ON THE RECORD
Sandberg Foresees Long-Term Uncertainty On Hours Of Service
"If you talk to safety advocates, what they want and what they're willing to accept is so extreme, I don't think you'll ever see the industry willing to come to the table on those things."
— Annette Sandberg
Oliver B. Patton
Washington Editor
If you're disturbed by the continuing uncertainty over the hours of service rules, the best thing might be to just get used to it.
"I think you're destined for eternal conflict," said Annette Sandberg, the former chief of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
"If you talk to the safety advocates, what they want and what they're willing to accept is so extreme, I don't think you'll ever see the industry willing to come to the table on those things," Sandberg said in an interview shortly after she left the agency.
"It's really like looking at the Grand Canyon and both sides are on either end. And there's just no way to get across."
The rules have been in court twice since the FMCSA issued them three years ago. The first suit forced the agency to rewrite its initial rule. Now the advocacy groups, led by Public Citizen, are suing the agency over its rewrite. Briefs have not yet been filed, but the groups are likely to push for the rewrite to be rewritten. It will take at least a year for the case to work its way through the system, and the outcome cannot be predicted.
Sandberg said she listened carefully to the safety advocates during the preparation of the first rule and its rewrite. "The steps that they wanted us to take ... would have had a huge economic impact on our economy," she said. "To put in regulations that so extremely cut back the ability of the driver to make a living and companies to move product just didn't make sense to me.We looked at the science and the data that they submitted, and it didn't show those big of extremes.
"I think the problem is that you just can't bridge that philosophical divide." There may be hope for stability in the longer term, Sandberg said. The pending proposal on electronic onboard recorders may help bridge the gap between the safety advocates and the industry. "And as we begin to gather better data on when people become fatigued, there might be some more middle ground. But right now, with lack of science and data, you have sides that are at either end of the spectrum."
Sandberg could offer no details on the upcoming recorder proposal, although she did say it is "a very serious rule" and she, personally, thinks "it's a great rule."
She signed off on it before she left the agency, but as HDT went to press, the rule was still in administrative review at the Department of Transportation.When DOT is done with it, it must be cleared by the White House Office of Management and Budget. Sandberg said she hopes the proposal will be published by July 4.
Another important rule pending at the agency – due this month – is a toughening of standards for new entrants into the business. The original standards, which required would-be truckers to certify that they understand the safety rules and pass a safety audit, did not have enough enforcement bite, Sandberg said.
The emphasis in the original new-entrant program was on education, and that component will still be there. But Sandberg said the revised program will have some teeth in it. "I think there's a certain responsibility on someone who is starting a trucking company to know what they are supposed to be doing. I should not have to go in there and hold their hand and tell them what to do," she said.
"If we do an audit and find that a carrier has blatantly not done something fundamental, like carry insurance, do drug and alcohol testing, like have CDL-licensed drivers, we should shut them down on the spot.You'll see some of that flavor when this (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) comes out in May – more of an enforcement focus on what I call drop-dead violations." Sandberg, who served as FMCSA administrator for three years, is proudest of two things: improvement in safety performance and reduction of the agency's regulatory backlog.The large truck fatality rate held steady at 2.3 per 100 million truck miles in 2003 and 2004, according to FMCSA figures, but
Sandberg said she expects a "pretty significant" reduction in 2005. The injury rate fell from 56 in 2003 to 51.3 in 2004.
Sandberg is not sure the agency will be able to meet its target of a 1.65 fatal accident rate by 2008. The goal is supposed to be hard, she said, adding, "If you make it too easy it's not much of a goal." But she recognizes that DOT may have to make adjustments if it becomes clear that the goal cannot be reached.
The number of compliance reviews – the agency's main enforcement tool – rose significantly while Sandberg was at the helm, but the number of enforcement cases went down.The reason for the decline, Sandberg said, was that the agency had a huge enforcement case backlog when she came on board.
"We had enforcement cases that had actually been pending for eight, nine, 10 years.Well, if a company knows that you're never going to finally levy the penalty, who cares?"
She said her first priority was to cut the backlog, then to bring enforcement measures to bear on the most egregious violators.
"Many times companies don't know what they need to do, so you give them an opportunity to correct. Some are just going to tell you to go pound sand – those you do an enforcement case on."
She anticipates that agency reforms due this summer are going to change the agency's enforcement practices. "There might be more enforcement cases ... but smaller cases on very specific and targeted areas."
Why did she leave the agency?
"Just tired."The pace is heavy and four years at DOT – not quite a year at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the rest at FMCSA – is a long time, she said. And, with the creation of a new regulatory agenda by Congress last fall, it was a natural transition point.
She plans to stay in the Washington area, and is looking to make the transition that so many federal officials have made to the private sector. She wants to find work in transportation safety and security. "I'm open to all comers at this point."
Washington Report continued...
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