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TALKING TCA
SAFE drivers = SAFER roads
FMCSA’s Sue
Lawless shares
goals, stresses
importance of
highway safety
By John Worthen
If truck drivers are safe at work, the nation’s
roadways will be safer, according to Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Acting
Deputy Administrator Sue Lawless.
This observation was made Monday, March 26, during
the Truckload Carriers Association’s (TCA) annual
convention in Nashville. Lawless was addressing attendees
during a luncheon and awards ceremony honoring
members of TCA’s Champions Club, winners of
the Past Chairmen’s and Chairman’s Choice awards,
and TCA’s Highway Angels of the Year for 2024-25.
During her speech, she touched on several topics,
including truck parking, the importance of female truck
drivers, and workplace safety. She also complimented
the industry and its stakeholders, many of whom were
gathered to hear her speak.
“You are among the best of the best of safe trucking,”
she said. “Every day, you show us what motor
carriers can do to keep the country moving, and you
do it safely.”
Lawless said the FMCSA and its partners are continually
working toward the goal of zero fatalities on
the nation’s roadways through programs such as the
National Roadway Safety Strategy.
“Zero is an ambitious goal, but we believe it is the
only acceptable number,” Lawless said. “Somebody
told me … that we will never get to zero — that it’s
impossible to get to zero. I disagree.”
Lawless noted she is not naive to the fact that the
goal will be difficult to attain, adding, “Just because
you can’t see something now, it doesn’t mean that it
could not exist in the future.”
Lawless ticked off a list of things she believes can
help move the nation toward zero highway deaths —
advances in technology to assist drivers, improvements
in equipment, improvements in emergency
response, and availability of medical treatment.
“All of those things have the potential to make zero
deaths a reality in our lifetime, and that’s why partnerships with organizations
like TCA, safety advocates, state and local governments, and
others are so critical in our mission,” she said.
In March, the U.S. Department of Transportation released a progress
report on the National Roadway Safety Strategy. Although strides are
being made toward safer highways, Lawless said that the “number of
deaths remains unacceptably and stubbornly high.”
U.S. traffic deaths fell 3.6% last year, but still, almost 41,000 people
were killed on the nation’s roadways, according to full-year estimates
by safety regulators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
said it was the second year in a row that fatalities decreased.
“We know that we must do more, and we know that we can’t do it
alone,” Lawless said. “It’s great to see over 160 organizations answer
the department’s call to action campaign, and we thank TCA for being
one of the first partners to answer our call.”
Turning to truck parking, Lawless said progress has been made since
the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided millions in federal grant funding
to help states add hundreds of truck parking spaces.
“Those projects included $180 million to the Florida Department of
Transportation for over 900 truck parking spaces, over $92 million to
the Missouri Department of Transportation for a project that includes
both truck parking and truck parking information systems, and over $22
36 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA MAY/JUNE 2024