Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

U.S. erasing transport safety rules

Industries push to undo policies for buses, trucks, trains

- JOAN LOWY AND TOM KRISHER

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is putting the brakes on attempts to address safety problems from speeding tractor-trailers to sleepy railroad engineers as part of his quest to roll back regulation­s across the government, according to a review by The Associated Press of rule-making activities by the Department of Transporta­tion.

A dozen transporta­tion safety rules under developmen­t or already adopted have been repealed, withdrawn, delayed, or put on the back burner since Trump took office last year. There have been no significan­t new safety rules approved during that time.

The sidelined rules would have, among other things, required states to conduct annual inspection­s of commercial bus operators, railroads to operate trains with at least two crew members and automakers to equip future cars and light trucks with vehicleto-vehicle communicat­ions to prevent collisions.

In most cases, the rules are opposed by powerful industries. The political appointees running the agencies that write the rules often come from the industries they regulate.

Many of the rules were prompted by tragic events.

“These rules have been written in blood,” said John Risch, the legislativ­e director for the Internatio­nal Associatio­n of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transporta­tion Workers. “But we’re in a new era now of little-to-no new regulation­s, no matter how beneficial they might be.”

Trump has sought to eliminate regulation­s throughout the government, viewing them as unnecessar­y restraints on economic growth. He has ordered that two regulation­s be identified for eliminatio­n for every significan­t new one issued.

DOT says it can reduce regulation­s without underminin­g safety and questions the effectiven­ess of some proposed regulation­s. It declined repeated AP requests since November for an on-the-record interview with a top official to discuss safety regulation­s.

One rule, proposed by DOT in 2016, would require new heavy trucks to have software that electronic­ally limits their speeds. The government didn’t designate a top speed but said it had studied 60, 65 and 68 mph.

The White House moved the proposal from its list of active rule-makings to its longterm agenda after Trump took office. DOT says the rule isn’t dead, but the department has limited resources and higher priorities.

DOT estimated two years ago that the rule would save as many as 498 lives per year and produce a net cost savings to society of $475 million to nearly $5 billion annually depending on the top speed the government picked.

Rick Watts of Morristown, Tenn., lost his wife, two young stepdaught­ers and motherin-law when the driver of an 18-ton tractor-trailer traveling about 80 mph failed to brake for cars in a slow-rolling constructi­on zone backup near Chattanoog­a in 2015. The truck crashed into eight vehicles, killing six people and injuring four others.

“If you’re going 80 and you’re knocked down to 60, that’s going to lower the impact,” Watts said. “It just baffles me that they’re killing so many people every year.”

The American Trucking Associatio­ns, an industry trade

group, initially supported the rule, but now claims credit for stalling it. The group says it would create dangerous speed differenti­als between cars and trucks.

Trucking officials met with Transporta­tion Secretary Elaine Chao within hours after she took office, according to Chris Spear, the trade group’s president. Trump welcomed trucking executives to the White House by climbing behind the wheel of a Mack semi parked on the South Lawn in March.

“Your story is now being told to the highest levels of government,” Spear told his organizati­on’s members in October.

Last summer, DOT withdrew a rule the government was in the early stages of writing to require train engineers and truck and bus drivers to be screened for sleep apnea, a condition that pauses breathing and prevents restful sleep.

The National Transporta­tion Safety Board has cited sleep apnea as a cause of 13 rail and highway accidents it has investigat­ed, including three commuter train crashes in New York and New Jersey since 2013. Investigat­ors say federal regulators share the blame because they haven’t required medical screening for sleep disorders.

The Transporta­tion Department said current safety programs either address the problem or it will be addressed in another rule to reduce fatigue in the railroad industry. But the fatigue rule is years overdue with no timetable for completion.

The agency has a number of political appointees with strong ties to the industries they regulate. Deputy Transporta­tion Secretary Jeff Rosen, who heads DOT’s task force that evaluates regulation­s for repeal or modificati­on, is an attorney who previously represente­d General Motors and an airline industry trade group. Daniel Elwell, the acting administra­tor at the Federal Aviation Administra­tion, is a former airline lobbyist. Cathy Gautreaux, deputy administra­tor at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administra­tion, which regulates the trucking industry, was executive director of a Louisiana trucking advocacy group for 29 years. Ron Batory, head of the Federal Railroad Administra­tion, was president of Conrail, a service provider for the CSX and Norfolk Southern freight railroads. Howard Elliott, head of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administra­tion, is a former CSX executive. His agency sets safety rules for rail transport of hazardous goods.

Neil Eisner, who was the DOT assistant general counsel in charge of overseeing the issuing of regulation­s for more than three decades, said industry’s influence on government regulation­s in general “is probably more powerful than it has ever been.”

The department says having industry insiders in leadership positions provides deep practical experience in how the transporta­tion industry works.

 ?? Chattanoog­a Police Department via AP ?? This photograph shows a tractor-trailer and a Mazda Tribute after an accident that killed six people in Chattanoog­a, Tenn., in June 2015. The truck had been going 80 mph before crashing into a line of vehicles backed up in a constructi­on zone. The...
Chattanoog­a Police Department via AP This photograph shows a tractor-trailer and a Mazda Tribute after an accident that killed six people in Chattanoog­a, Tenn., in June 2015. The truck had been going 80 mph before crashing into a line of vehicles backed up in a constructi­on zone. The...
 ?? Chattanoog­a Police Department via AP ?? This image from a drone video shows the aftermath of a June 2015 accident in Chattanoog­a, Tenn., that killed six people. A tractor-trailer slammed into a line of cars that had slowed down in a constructi­on zone.
Chattanoog­a Police Department via AP This image from a drone video shows the aftermath of a June 2015 accident in Chattanoog­a, Tenn., that killed six people. A tractor-trailer slammed into a line of cars that had slowed down in a constructi­on zone.

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