FMCSA names 25 truck drivers to new safety panel

Drivers to provide direct feedback to agency on hours of service, training, parking

Driver safety panel includes LTL, truckload, hazmat drivers. (Credit: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has unveiled the names of 25 drivers who will participate on a new panel to give the agency an on-the-road perspective on a variety of safety issues.

Drivers on the panel, which the FMCSA announced in September, are from all sectors of the industry. They will provide feedback to FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) on issues such as hours-of-service regulations, training, parking and driver experience, according to FMCSA.

“FMCSA believes in listening to our drivers and hearing their concerns directly,” said FMCSA Deputy Administrator Wiley Deck. “We know that many of the solutions to the challenges we face don’t come from Washington — they come from the hardworking men and women who are behind the wheel all over our nation. This new subcommittee to MCSAC will further help us hear from America’s commercial drivers.”

The panel includes drivers of trailers, straight trucks and motor coaches and haulers of hazardous materials and agricultural products and represents both less-than-truckload and truckload carriers. 

Drivers selected to the new safety panel are:

  • Todd Spencer (panel chairman), Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
  • Desirée Wood, Real Women in Trucking
  • William Bennett III, UPS Freight
  • Teddy Cranford, Waste Management of Maryland
  • Debra Desiderato, Walkabout Transport
  • Douglas Feathers, URS Midwest Inc.
  • Steve Fields, YRC Freight
  • JoAnne Forbes, MBT Worldwide Inc.
  • Gerald Fritts Jr., American Overland Freight
  • John Grosvenor, McKiernan Trucking
  • Attila Gyorfi, RSP Express Inc.
  • W. Scott Harrison, K Limited Carriers
  • Rhonda Hartman, Old Dominion Freight Lines
  • Darwin Hershberger, Hershberger Livestock LLC
  • Daniel Kobussen, Kobussen Buses Ltd.
  • Deb Labree, Castle Transport LLC
  • Alphonso Lewis, YRC Freight
  • Don Logan, FedEx Freight
  • Kellylynn McLaughlin, Schneider National Inc.
  • Tina Peterson, Ravenwood Transport
  • Stephen Pryor, Greyhound Lines Inc.
  • H. Kevin (Brandy) Russell, Transport America
  • Douglas Smith, Ralph Smith Co.
  • Kevin Steichen, Steichen Trucking
  • Angelique Temple, Atlantic Bulk Carrier

The announcement comes a day after FMCSA announced it had added nine members to its current 16-member Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC), including two motor carriers and four women.

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John Gallagher

Based in Washington, D.C., John specializes in regulation and legislation affecting all sectors of freight transportation. He has covered rail, trucking and maritime issues since 1993 for a variety of publications based in the U.S. and the U.K. John began business reporting in 1993 at Broadcasting & Cable Magazine. He graduated from Florida State University majoring in English and business.