The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has named Steve Dowling as its new chief safety officer, a position that oversees the agency's compliance, enforcement and safety audit programs for large trucks and buses. Dowling brings more than 35 years of combined industry and law enforcement experience to the role.
Dowling most recently served as senior director of safety at Covenant Logistics, where he helped lead the company to three consecutive years of record reductions in crash rates. Before joining the carrier, he spent decades with the California Highway Patrol, rising to chief of the Valley Division covering the greater Sacramento region. In that post he oversaw operations across 20 commands, a commercial vehicle enforcement facility and three communications centers spanning 10 counties.
As chief safety officer, Dowling will work with federal, state and industry partners on FMCSA initiatives aimed at reducing crashes, fatalities and injuries involving commercial vehicles while keeping freight moving efficiently. He previously chaired the American Trucking Associations' Law Enforcement Advisory Board and served as president of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance during the 2010 to 2011 term, where he also chaired the CVSA Training Committee.
The role has drawn mixed reaction from drivers online, with some praising the combination of enforcement and carrier experience and others noting Dowling has no behind the wheel trucking background. He succeeds a line of chief safety officers that includes Jack Van Steenburg, who retired from FMCSA in 2024, and Sue Lawless, who briefly led the agency in an acting capacity before departing for private practice.
Source: Heavy Duty Trucking - https://www.truckinginfo.com/news/new-fmcsa-chief-safety-officer-has-trucking-industry-and-law-enforcement-experience