Pointing to a blog post by Anne Ferro, a truck driver trade association is claiming that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration administrator is biased against truck drivers and should be asked to step down from her post. The Owner Operator Independent Driver’s Association sent a letter to the secretary of the Department of Transportation, Anthony Foxx, asking him to call for Ferro’s resignation. In the letter, OOIDA argues that the tone of Ferro’s June 3, 2014, post to the “Fast Lane” blog, owned by the DOT, is antagonistic toward drivers and carriers. The association also says that by calling upon Congress to reject a motion to defund part of the hours of service rule, Ferro violated a federal law that prevents the use of federal money and resources for lobbying purposes. “OOIDA’s board of directors, made up predominately of men and women who spend their days on the highway driving a truck, has concluded that the FMCSA can no longer perform its regulatory and enforcement duties impartially, and we have thus lost confidence in Administrator Ferro’s ability to conduct her responsibilities (which go far beyond simply regulating and enforcing truck safety rules and regulations) effectively,” reads the letter from OOIDA. The group goes on to point out that the FMCSA has proceeded quickly with rulemakings opposed by carriers, such as the HOS rules and a pending rule to raise the required levels of insurance carriers much hold; in contrast, it has virtually ignored calls from the industry for minimum training standards for new drivers. “The quick action on the insurance issue, while training continues to be a non-priority for FMCSA is a clear sign of Administrator Ferro’s inability to properly prioritize the tasks before the agency that will result in real safety improvements,” says OOIDA’s letter. Secretary Foxx has not replied to the letter, but DOT spokesperson Meghan Keck told Overdrive that the DOT “does not think a letter like that deserves a statement.” The letter coincides with a high-profile semi-truck crash last week in which a member of comedian Tracy Morgan’s team was killed, as well as the passage of a bill through a Senate committee that would allow the current HOS restart provision to be rescinded.
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