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Tag: transportation department
Trump Justice Dropped Probe Of Transport Secretary Despite Corruption Referral

Trump Justice Dropped Probe Of Transport Secretary Despite Corruption Referral

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department declined to prosecute then-Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao after the inspector general's office referred allegations of potential misuse of office for review, a report made public on Wednesday said. The report included allegations that Chao directed staff to research or purchase personal items for her online using her personal credit card. In December, the inspector general's office referred its findings to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia for criminal prosecution, which declined to open a criminal investigation. Th...

Transportation Department Puts The Brakes On Truck Safety

Transportation Department Puts The Brakes On Truck Safety

Reprinted with permission from DCReport.org

 

Does that truck driver who sped past you this morning have as much training as your barber? Did the driver spend as much time learning to drive that 40-ton big rig as your plumber spent learning to work under your kitchen sink?

Probably not. And the Trump administration doesn’t seem to think that’s a problem.

The Department of Transportation is again delaying regulations setting basic training requirements for people who drive large trucks or busses, rules that Congress has been asking for since 1991.

“Congress, safety groups and families of truck crash victims have been battling to get the U.S. Department of Transportation to act on a commercial driver’s license training rule for over two decades,” said Peter Kurdock of the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

The standards, which were published in December and have already been stalled twice by the Trump administration, include classroom instruction in driving, emergencies and planning trips. The most recent delay is until June 5.

Fatal crashes involving large trucks or buses rose by 20% from 2009 to 2015.  On average, more than 4,000 people are killed each year, and nearly 100,000 injured in large truck crashes.

The annual cost to society from crashes involving commercial motor vehicles is estimated to be over $110 billion.

Training in skills such as trip planning might prevent accidents such as those in tiny Ponca, Ark., where truck drivers bound for a Wal-Mart distribution center have been using GPS that puts them on steep and winding rural highways.

The published regulation was watered down to eliminate requiring a minimum amount of behind-the-wheel training. A draft required 30 hours of behind-the-wheel training, but that was removed.

The regulation would have a grace period until February 2020 and would only apply to applicants who have not received their commercial driver’s license by Feb. 7, 2020. Firefighters, farmers and military drivers would be exempted from the regulation.

The American Trucking Associations opposes a time-on-the-road requirement.  The trade group, which represents trucking companies, not drivers, spent about $1.8 million in federal lobbying last year.

“We believe demonstrating proficiency is far more important than showing a number of hours behind the wheel,” said Sean McNally of American Trucking Associations. “Once you demonstrate proficiency, you should be able to take the state test, apply for a job and start earning a paycheck.”

Safety organizations have asked that the final rule be reconsidered because it doesn’t include mandatory behind-the-wheel training.

The organizations, which included the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition, pointed to state requirements for jobs such as being a plumber or a barber.

Texas requires a journeyman plumber to have 8,000 hours of experience. Barbers licensed in Virginia must have 490 hours.

 

Senate Approves Chao To Lead Transportation Department

Senate Approves Chao To Lead Transportation Department

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate voted 93 to 6 on Tuesday to confirm Elaine Chao as head of the U.S. Transportation Department, which overseas aviation, vehicle, train, and pipeline safety.

Chao, a former U.S. labor secretary and deputy transportation secretary, will face key decisions on how to regulate the growing use of drones and automakers’ plans to offer self-driving cars.

She will also be a key player in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet if his administration pushes ahead with a major infrastructure spending program, as the businessman-turned-politician promised during last year’s presidential campaign.

The Transportation Department has a $75 billion annual budget and about 60,000 employees. It includes the Federal Aviation Administration, which handles air traffic control.

Chao, the wife of Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position, also will have to decide whether U.S. fuel efficiency standards should be revised, as some automakers have sought.

There are dozens of other pending regulatory issues facing the next administration, including railroad safety and staffing rules, whether to set rules requiring airlines give more passengers with disabilities seats with extra leg room, and whether to ban or restrict personal phone calls on U.S. flights.

At her confirmation hearing earlier this month, Chao declined to take positions on a number of issues, including whether air traffic control jobs should be privatized, concerns over the safety of shipments of crude oil by rail, foreign airlines’ push to move into the U.S. market, and regulation of developing technologies.

AAA, the largest U.S. auto club with more than 50 million members, praised Chao’s confirmation. AAA CEO Marshall Doney said the group “firmly believes that significant, additional investments are needed to maintain existing infrastructure and to enhance the nation’s (transportation) system.”

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents major U.S. and foreign automakers, said that from “autonomous vehicles to safety to fuel efficiency to infrastructure, Secretary Chao’s leadership will profoundly impact our sector and many others.”

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Paul Simao)

IMAGE: Elaine Chao testifies before a Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Committee confirmation hearing on her nomination to be transportation secretary on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 11, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria