Just days after Acting Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Adrienne Camire suddenly left the role after just two weeks, President Donald Trump has nominated a new, full-time leader for the agency: Derek Barrs, formerly of Florida Highway Patrol and a member of the American Trucking Association's Law Enforcement Advisory Board.
Senate documents on Tuesday revealed the Trump administration had referred his nomination to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which will weigh in on his nomination before it goes to a larger Senate-wide vote.
Barrs has experience with the Florida Department of Transportation and Florida Highway Patrol, where he retired as a chief in 2020 and served as lead Florida contact for Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance-related matters dating back many years. (Barrs was a Florida enforcement source for Overdrive reporting for instance on intrastate electronic logging device mandate implementation back in 2017.)
Derek Barrs
During Barrs' time at Florida Highway Patrol, he at one point served as the Director of Commercial Vehicle Enforcement and gave a talk on Florida's "leading role in autonomous vehicles."
Trucking industry associations have responded positively to the nomination.
“OOIDA and the 150,000 small business truckers we represent congratulate Derek Barrs on his nomination to lead the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration," said Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association President Todd Spencer. "We look forward to working with him in advancing the priorities of small business truckers across America, including fighting freight fraud, rolling back unnecessary regulations, and closing regulatory loopholes to ensure the safest truck drivers remain in the industry. We encourage a swift confirmation in the Senate and look forward to working with Mr. Barrs to improve the safety of our roadways.”
Florida Trucking Association President and CEO Alix Miller expressed seeing firsthand Barrs' "ability to create effective collaborations between the trucking industry and public safety officers to address critical issues," including efforts to educate the general public. For Miller's members, too, "Derek has been boots-on-the-ground for years of voluntary vehicle inspections; outreach to company terminals; and developing the ‘Truck Drivers and Troopers’ program" with the association, matching member trucking companies with Florida troopers to spend a workday with an individual trucker, then "vice versa."
The American Trucking Associations, the Truckload Carriers Association and the National Tank Truck Carriers sent a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in January "to express full support for Barrs," the ATA said in a statement applauding Barr's nomination.
“With nearly two decades of experience in law enforcement and the commercial motor vehicle industry, Derek Barrs’ career has been defined by his emphasis on making our roads safer for all motorists,” said ATA President & CEO Chris Spear, lauding his “extensive public service at the Florida Department of Transportation and Florida Highway Patrol. ... He has a proven track record of strengthening ties between the trucking industry and public safety officers to address top transportation challenges such as drug impairment, cargo theft, and human trafficking."
ATA further praised Barrs' "deep knowledge of the trucking industry" and said it was confident Barrs would lead FMCSA to "make significant progress towards achieving our shared priorities of improving highway safety and efficiently delivering the nation’s freight."
In addition to his law enforcement experience, and time on ATA’s Law Enforcement Advisory Board, which he joined in 2021, Barrs served various roles within CVSA, including "serving as the President of the Associate Members, where he represented motor carriers and suppliers to the industry," ATA noted.
[Related: Time to put an owner-operator behind the wheel of FMCSA?]
