FMCSA committee names new chair, members

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has appointed to its Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee a new chairman, vice chairman and five new members. The announcement came last week.

Stephen C. Owings has been named MCSAC’s new chairman. Owings founded Road Safe in 2003 after their son Cullum died in 2002 after being hit by a tractor-trailer. According to FMCSA, Owings is the first chairman to come from the “safety advocacy community.” He replaces David Parker, who’d been chairman since the committee began in 2007.

Lt. Col. Scott G. Hernandez — interim chief of the Colorado State Patrol — was named vice chairman and will become the committee’s chairman after Owings serves a two-year term.

MCSAC was set up in 2006 by Congress to offer information and recommendations to FMCSA. It consists of stakeholders from motor carrier safety advocacy groups, safety enforcement and labor and industry communities.

The committee will have five new members begin terms on April 1:

· Gary Catapano, senior vice president of safety, First Student, Inc.

· Bruce Hamilton, president, Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1700

· Robert Mills, police officer, Fort Worth (TX) Police Department

· Donald Osterberg, senior vice president of safety and security, Schneider National, Inc.

· Tami Friedrich Trakh, board member, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH)

Ferro also reappointed ten members:

LaMont Byrd, director of health and safety, International Brotherhood of Teamsters

· Norman (Bill) Dofflemyer, captain, Maryland State Police

· Scott Hernandez, interim chief, Colorado State Patrol

· John Lannen, executive director, Truck Safety Coalition

· Jane Mathis, member, board of directors, Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.)

· Stephen C. Owings, president, Road Safe America

· Pete Pantuso, president and chief executive officer, American Bus Association

· David Parker, senior legal counsel, Great West Casualty Co.

· Danny Schnautz, operations manager, Clark Freight Lines, Inc.

· Todd Spencer, executive vice president, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association

The committee now has 20 members, and its next meeting will be held April 8-10 in Alexandria, Va.

“We welcome our new MCSAC members and look forward to their contributions that will help FMCSA raise the bar for carriers to enter the industry, maintain high safety standards to remain in the industry, and remove high risk carriers and drivers from our roadways,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro.