Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator Anne S. Ferro spoke to attendees of the Mid-West Truckers Association Annual Convention last week and discussed several issues that could also relate to the school bus industry.
Ferro's speech occurred in Peoria, Ill., hometown of Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.
Distracted driving, a top priority of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), was described by Ferro as “an epidemic in this country.” Recently, the feds announced they were considering enforcing existing federal regulations against texting while driving for interstate truck and bus drivers. She expressed that the hardest part of the texting ban will be effective enforcement.
The Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 Program (CSA 2010) was also discussed during Ferro’s speech, emphasizing that implementation of a new safety measurement system that includes seven evaluation factors instead of four evaluation factors currently employed will give the FMCSA the information it needs “to determine the most appropriate level of intervention to use to bring about improvements in a carrier's safety management practices and provide a streamlined, data-driven approach for issuing safety ratings.”
Driver fatigue, the cause of some recent crashes investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, could be potentially addressed by the inclusion of electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs), according to Ferro. A final rule which would require the use of these EOBRs is pending in Secretary LaHood’s office.