FMCSA to outline safety priorities at Transportation Research Board conference

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is expected to outline the agency’s safety priorities for 2019 during the Transportation Research Board annual meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 15 in Washington, D.C.

FMCSA will deliver back-to-back sessions from 8 a.m. until noon EST as part of the 98th annual conference, which goes from Jan. 13-17 and is expected to attract more than 13,000 transportation professionals from around the world.

The Transportation Research Board conference will cover all transportation modes with more than 5,000 presentations in about 800 sessions and workshops. The theme for 2019 is Transportation for a Smart, Sustainable, and Equitable Future.

FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez is scheduled to give the agency’s keynote address to start the four-hour presentation. The first session will discuss safety priorities, trends in commercial motor vehicle safety, an enforcement update from FMCSA’s Joe DeLorenzo, an update on the development of an automated commercial motor vehicle policy, and a look at FMCSA’s latest research activities.

Jay Grimes, OOIDA’s director of federal affairs, said he expects Martinez to discuss FMCSA’s work toward potential reform to the hours-of-service regulations. In August, the FMCSA issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking regarding possible changes to the hours of service.

“He will give a general overview looking back at the last year,” Grimes said. “I’m sure hours of service will be a main topic there. We may get some updates on what to expect in the next step of that process.”

FMCSA’s second session a the Transportation Research Board conference will include presentations about crash predictions models, industry research initiatives, automated vehicle crash data, and findings from the commercial driver safety risk factors study.