Top U.S. truck safety official resigns

Top U.S. truck safety official resigns    Annette Sandberg has submitted her resignation as administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, effective March 1.
   Sandberg, who has served as deputy administrator and administrator for the last three years, informed President Bush and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta of her decision Wednesday morning, FMCSA said.
   Sandberg will be remembered most in the trucking community for leading the agency’s promulgation of new hours of service rules for truck drivers. The new rules forced trucking companies to make changes in how they operate to accommodate the reduced driving time of each driver, which is now calculated by total time on the job, not just hours behind the wheel.
   The rules were revised after a court challenge and are still subject to potential change after being challenged in court by anti-trucking safety advocates as well as independent owner-operators upset with the restrictions on drivers operating under split berth sleeper conditions.
   Transport Topics, a trucking industry publication, first reported the news on its Web site.