New FMCSA Deputy Administrator Outlines Agency Priorities
FMCSA new Deputy Administrator Cathy Gatreaux talks about the importance of regulators and enforcement partnering with industry to improve safety. Photo: Deborah Lockridge
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FMCSA new Deputy Administrator Cathy Gatreaux talks about the importance of regulators and enforcement partnering with industry to improve safety. Photo: Deborah Lockridge
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BIRMINGHAM – On her third day on the job, the new number-two at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration outlined the priorities of the agency under the Trump administration, including ELD implementation, deregulation, infrastructure investment, autonomous vehicles, and fighting human trafficking.
Deputy Administrator Cathy Gatreaux had only a day and a half in her new office before hitting the road for the FMCSA’s Southern Regional Road Show, the fourth such regional event this year.
Gatreaux, who has a degree in criminal justice and experience in law enforcement before her 32-year stint at the Louisiana Motor Transport Association, said this is “an exciting time to be in transportation,” citing an expanding economy, new technology, and a “rare bipartisan consensus about infrastructure.”
“Of course, these opportunities also present challenges,” she said, including congestion, highway fatalities, neglected and aging infrastructure, and concerns around the reliability, security and privacy of new technologies.
That’s why the DOT, she said, has three over-arching priorities:
Safe deployment of automated road transportation systemsRevitalization of America’s infrastructureRegulatory reform
“These priorities will have a major impact on our work at FMCSA over the next few years,” she said, and outlined the following priorities for the agency:
Mandatory ELD Implementation
Gatreaux noted that the agency has had many meetings with stakeholders on the new rule requiring electronic logging devices to track driver hours, from beef and pork industries to the motion picture industry to individual trucking companies and Capitol Hill staffers.
“FMCSA has heard from a wide range of people on this issue,” she said. “The staff heard the concerns presented and we want to work with the groups, but the bottom line is in the end, FMCSA cannot arbitrarily change the compliance date of …Read the rest of this story
