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Darling by John Sommers II for Transport Topics

PHILADELPHIA��— Speaking at American Trucking Associations' Management Conference & Exhibition on Oct. 18, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Acting Administrator Scott Darling declared 2016 “the year of partnerships” between his agency and stakeholders such as ATA.

Darling said that a Federal Register notice will be published the��week of Oct. 18 regarding the unified registration system as FMCSA launches the transition to a fully online registration process.

“We are confident it will save you time and money,” Darling said.��

According to Darling, the final rule on electronic logging devices will be published shortly and is designed to improve hours-of-service compliance while saving an estimated 20 lives and preventing more than 400 injuries per year due to crashes and “protecting drivers from harassment.”��He added that the Office of Management and Budget is “in the final stages” of evaluating FMCSA’s proposed Safety Fitness Determination rule.

Darling praised ATA for its partnership on a compressed timeline on the negotiated rulemaking for entry-level driver training, which is scheduled to be published before the end of 2015.

Darling said the long-awaited hours-of-service study to be submitted to the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General “in the coming months” will include data from more than 220 drivers with more than 3,000 driver duty cycles, more than 75,000 driver alertness tests and more than 20,000 days of driver sleep data to be analyzed.

“Safe truckers move the nation’s economy,” Darling said, noting that he gave his first speech after being nominated as administrator at the National Truck Driving Championship in August in St. Louis. “We depend on truck drivers and their companies to deliver gas to the pumps, clothes to the racks and food to the shelves.”

But Darling emphasized, “We need your companies to operate safely. We must do everything we can to take unsafe drivers and unsafe carriers off the road. They hurt our industry and our economy.”

Darling noted that FMSCA is making it easier for companies to hire military veterans in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia “to help address the truck driver shortage while also helping the men and women who serve the country in the military, particularly those who drive heavy-duty vehicles during their service in the armed forces.”

More than 10,000 veterans have taken advantage of FMCSA’s CDL waiver.��