FMCSA holding 'road shows' on commercial vehicle safety

With practically no public notice, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration this summer is holding three day-long "road show events" – regional forums to discuss and explore both the challenges and the opportunities for strengthening large truck and bus safety. The first such session was held August 9 in Minneapolis, and it appears that the only public notice was a Facebook post the day before.

The next event – so far announced only through an entry on the FMCSA website’s calendar of events – is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Courtyard Philadelphia Valley Forge/Collegeville, located at 600 Campus Drive in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. The notice is at https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/event/collegeville-pa-road-show-event, but as of now there is no further information.

The third event, which was just listed on FMCSA's calendar, will be held from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. August 17 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton at Denver International Airport. The notice is at https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/event/denver-colorado-road-show-event, but there is no more information on that session than there is on the Collegeville session.

In a slightly longer description for Minneapolis event, FMCSA said that FMCSA senior executives and program specialists would make presentations and that forum attendees would have the opportunity to discuss and explore the challenges and the opportunities for strengthening large truck and bus safety. The agency said some of the discussion topics will include:

• FMCSA priorities and goals and their alignment with commercial vehicle safety programs and activities;

• The Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program;

• The congressionally mandated electronic logging device (ELD) rule;

• Large truck and bus traffic enforcement; and

• FMCSA’s State grant programs that support grass-roots commercial vehicle enforcement and safety programs.

FMCSA has not said what prompted the "road show" forums or whether they are related to any initiative or directive. They do not appear to be related to the recent National Academies report on CSA and the Safety Measurement System, and FMCSA is staging a separate "implementation tour" to promote the upcoming ELD mandate. FMCSA reportedly will hold a public meeting on the National Academies report in September in Washington, DC, but it has not announced anything.