Heavy Duty Trucking, February 2018

HDT FEBRUARY 2018 12 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM FMCSAs Gautreaux Innovation will drive safety forward David Cullen Executive Editor dcullen@ truckinginfo com David covers legislative and regulatory issues for Truckinginfo com and HDTs monthly Washington Watch as well as writing substantive features for the magazine on management issues equipment trends and more He can reached at dcullen@ truckinginfo com or 203 371 0040 t the start of her first full year helping to lead the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Deputy Administrator Cathy Gautreaux praised the agency for its recent accomplishments and laid out its priorities going forward These are exciting and important times for our agency I am honored to have been selected to provide leadership and look forward to helping to advance FMCSAs priorities and goals Gautreaux said last month at the top of her keynoter at the FMCSA Analysis Research and Technology Forum held during the 97th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington D C Looking back at last year Gautreaux who took over as the agencys number two official in November said it was a good year for us thanks to the efforts of the 1100 men and women of FMCSA and our partners We couldnt do our work without you She cited as a notable recent success the rise in the use of safety belts by truck and bus drivers which increased to 86 in 2016 up from 65 in 2007 Gautreaux also pointed to the agencys efforts in 2017 to improve crash data collection which she said is chief among FMCSAs research activities and priorities this year Turning to the various Congressional mandates imposed on the agency by the FAST Act highway bill signed into law in December 2015 she reported that the agency completed several FAST Act required projects in 2017 including the Post Accident Report Review and the Correlation Study and noted that recommendations have been published and the agency is currently working to implement improvements Looking forward Gautreaux called this an exciting moment to work in the transportation sector With rapid advances in technology and a rare bipartisan consensus developing about infrastructure we are primed to do great things Gautreaux said Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao has outlined the departments top three priorities going forward as Keeping safety foremost in mind making a commitment to address our countrys crumbling infrastructure and engaging in helping prepare for the future by encouraging innovation She said Chaos third point is especially important because transportation is on the verge of one of the most transformational eras in history I have witnessed the evolution of the industry from economic to safety regulation over the last 32 years Gautreaux noted She was alluding to the economic deregulation of trucking which began with the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 and the present era in which the agency remains focused on reducing highway crashes involving large trucks and buses Technology is the next frontier she continued We are on the cusp of revolutionary change in the way we move both people and freight and I am excited for what the future holds Thats why I am looking forward to the several projects we are working on that are related to driver assisted technologies I expect the work on these projects to move forward this year and in 2019 including research and testing to accelerate the deployment of automatic emergency braking systems a joint project with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop cybersecurity best practices for automated commercial motor vehicles and specific research on sensor and braking performance I also want to say a word about the electronic logging device rule implementation she said A great deal of work with our enforcement partners went into ensuring that the rollout of the ELD rule was a success Gautreaux credited the agencys efforts to WASHINGTON WATCH Agencys deputy chief sees great promise in applying technology for safetys sake A