Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy has just taken a significant swipe at the regulatory brush, scrapping a swath of regulations across several transportation agencies. According to a release from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Duffy's recent announcement includes a total of 52 deregulatory actions that aim to eliminate supposedly redundant and outdated rules that have allegedly been adding unnecessary burdens without enhancing safety.
In his efforts to swiftly achieve this goal, the Department of Transportation is casting aside over 73,000 words from the Federal Registry. The targeted regulations range from the elimination of the requirement for paper copies of manuals for electronic devices, which are readily available online, to amendments aimed at better accommodate military technicians operating commercial trucks following rigorous military driver training. “These are common sense changes that will help us build a more efficient government that better reflects the needs of the American people,” Duffy said in a statement obtained by the Department of Transportation.
The deregulatory package in discussion spans across the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Among the actions proposed, are changes to NHTSA's car seat side impact tests, which include plans to use properly sized crash test dummies, making it less complicated for car seat manufacturers to develop and test their products.
Among the package's 52 actions, 43 are at the Notice Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) stage, 7 have reached the final rule stage, and 2 involve withdrawals of rulemaking actions. Stressing on efficiency over complication, the Department firmly believes these moves will not compromise safety. As Duffy claims, “Big government has been a big failure. Under President Trump’s leadership, my department is slashing duplicative and outdated regulations that are unnecessarily burdensome, waste taxpayer dollars, and fail to ensure safety,” as noted by the same news release.
The reforms come as part of President Trump's continued push for deregulation, in line with Executive Order 14192, "Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation," and Executive Order 14219, "Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President's ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative."
