U.S. Transportation Secretary Mineta Announces Decision of FMCSA Administrator to Depart; Moves NHTSA Deputy Administrator to FMCSA Deputy Slot

Topics:  Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Norman Y. Mineta, Joseph M. Clapp, Annette M. Sandberg

U.S. Department of Transportation
November 25, 2002

DOT 106-02
Monday, November 25, 2002
Contact: Dave Longo
Tel. No. 202-366-0456

U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta today announced that Joseph M. Clapp, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), will leave the U.S. Department of Transportation next month. President Bush appointed Clapp the first administrator of the FMCSA on Oct. 4, 2001.

"Joe Clapp has been an outstanding member of our team at DOT. As the leader of the FMCSA, he brought considerable private-sector experience to bear on a number of key issues facing the industry at a critical time in our Nation's history, and I am deeply grateful for his contributions," Secretary Mineta said. "I truly appreciate the service Joe has so generously given the country, and while we will miss his counsel, I know he is looking forward to resuming the retirement he was enjoying before his call to service."

Secretary Mineta also announced that Annette M. Sandberg, who has served as deputy administrator of the Department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration since Feb. 11, 2002, is FMCSA's deputy administrator, effective today.

"Annette Sandberg brings vast experience and savvy to a job that will continue to be challenging," Secretary Mineta said. "The leadership she demonstrated in NHTSA helped improve highway safety in this country and now we are asking her to help reduce truck-related fatalities."

Clapp had retired in 1995 after serving as chairman of Roadway Services, Inc., Akron, Ohio. Roadway Services was at the time a $5 billion-firm in the transportation and logistics business operating through subsidiary companies. These companies employed more than 60,000 people at over 1,000 facilities worldwide.

Since his appointment at FMCSA, Clapp focused on meeting transportation safety requirements for implementing the truck and bus provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The Bush administration is committed to opening the U.S. southern border for Mexican truck and bus operations and ensuring that qualified Mexican-domiciled motor vehicles operate safely in the United States.

Under Clapp's leadership in preparing for the border opening, FMCSA met or exceeded 22 different safety requirements set out in the Fiscal Year 2002 Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. These requirements included hiring, training and placing 274 safety personnel along the border, establishing new inspection facilities, and creating a strict safety regimen.

Regulations published while Clapp was administrator included important rules specified in the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999. Among them is a final rule that strengthened the licensing requirements and sanctions in the commercial driver's license (CDL) program. Another rule established a new safety audit process for U.S. and Canadian motor carriers entering the market after Jan. 1, 2003.

As the FMCSA administrator, Clapp emphasized that motor carrier managers have a personal responsibility to operate with extraordinary regard for the safety of those with whom they share the road. He challenged FCMSA employees to see each of the thousands of carrier contacts they make each year as an opportunity to bring about positive change so that people and their loved ones "get home safely tonight."

Sandberg was the chief of the Washington State Patrol for six years and is a nationally recognized expert on law enforcement and traffic safety. She spent more than 17 years in law enforcement, supervisory and administrative posts - some of which included responsibility for motor carrier safety- with the Washington State Patrol.

Sandberg has a law degree from the University of Puget Sound School of Law and earned an MBA from City University, Bellevue, WA, graduating magna cum laude.

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