Prepared remarks by
Kenneth R. Wykle, Administrator, Federal Highway Administration
Commercial Vehicle Safety Action Plan
Washington, DC
Tuesday, May 25, 1999

Mr. Secretary, all of us appreciate your strong stance on safety. Safety is the department’s North Star and you champion safety every day. You have laid out several bold initiatives -- all of us must work together to achieve ambitious goals.

FHWA is first a safety organization. Our dedication is demonstrated by the construction and operation of the safest highway system in the world. Interstate highways represent safety-by- design with features such as skid resistant pavements, wide lanes and shoulders, good clearance under bridges, and easy-to-read signs. Independent research shows interstate highways are three to four times safer than other roads.

You have challenged us to bring this same safety vision and execution to motor carrier operations. We will demonstrate our commitment through risk-based assessments and strong enforcement. Success will require education, training and outreach efforts with our many partners.

I am pleased that the latest crash figures show, for the first time in three years, a real-number decline in the number of fatalities for crashes involving larger trucks. Each number represents a precious human life, and a decrease of almost 100 in our data means that many lives saved.

To continue movement toward the goals just announced, our Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety, under Julie Cirillo’s strong leadership, will take several rapid steps:

• Make use of the full authority of TEA-21. That means increased fines for violations – up to $10,000 per violation. And $5,000 per each record-keeping violation. We will double the number of federal compliance reviews to 8,000 per year.

• We will issue a final rule on hours of service as soon as possible and engage all interested and affected parties in the process.

• The tragic truck and train crash in Bourbonnais, Illinois, is a vivid reminder of the extra caution that drivers must always take at railroad crossings. This summer, we will issue a final rule ensuring that drivers who disregard railroad crossing warnings are disqualified from driving. I have written all Governors asking them to review their state licensing practices to ensure that drivers who exhibit risk taking behavior are not given special license privileges.

• On border safety, we will triple the number of inspectors on our Southern border to ensure safe operating conditions and drivers who fully comply with our laws. We will also encourage states to apply under the new borders and corridors program for inspection facilities.

• We intend to revise Commercial Driver Licenses (CDLs) to require more stringent written and skills testing and graduated licensing, possibly with a minimum of 100,000 miles under supervision of experienced drivers. We plan to require states to deny CDLs to individuals with any moving violations during the past three years, or any drug or alcohol related offenses in the past five years.

• We will push for technical initiatives such as on board recorders to manage hours of service, speed governors, lane tracking devices, and collision warning systems.

Public involvement is very important to the safety effort. We intend to partner with the motoring public, safety groups, industry, and others to remove unsafe operators and equipment from the highways. Nothing we do in FHWA is more important than helping to save lives.

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Briefing Room