CVSA COMMITTEE AND PROGRAM NEWS
More Than 550 Individuals Attend CVSA’s First In-Person Annual Conference Since 2019 CVSA President (2019-2021) Sgt. John Samis welcomed annual conference attendees to his home state of Delaware.
More than 550 people came to Wilmington, Delaware, for CVSA’s first in-person annual conference since 2019. Attendees reflected the variety of professions which play a part in making our roads safer, with representatives from law enforcement, the motor carrier industry, transportation safety companies and commercial motor vehicle organizations. The conference took place Aug. 29-Sept. 2, 2021, with board meetings held on the first and last day. Commercial motor vehicle safety professionals gather at this conference each year to work together to improve commercial motor vehicle safety, eliminate roadway crashes, and to improve inspection and enforcement uniformity, consistency and reciprocity throughout North America. This year’s conference was held in the home state of the Alliance’s outgoing president – Sgt. John Samis of the Delaware State Police – in accordance with CVSA Bylaws. When his term ended on Oct. 1, Sgt. John Broers, with the South Dakota Highway Patrol, became the new president and Maj. Chris Nordloh, with the Texas Department of Public Safety, became vice president.
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During the general session on Aug. 30, each member-country of the Alliance provided an update. Salvador Monroy Andrade, director of international matters for the Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes (Ministry of Communications and Transportation) provided an in-person update on behalf of Mexico. Joel Turner, chair of the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators Committee on Compliance and Regulatory Affairs provided his update remotely by video, as did Jack Van Steenburg, executive director and chief safety officer for the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Attendees also heard Thomas B. Chapman, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) board member, speak about NTSB’s Safe System approach, which aims to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries for all road users through a holistic view of the road system. The conference also included region, committee and program meetings. All 10 CVSA committees met at the conference: Crash Data and Investigation Standards, Driver-Traffic Enforcement, Enforcement and Industry Modernization, Hazardous
Materials, Information Systems, Passenger Carrier, Policy and Regulatory Affairs, Size and Weight, Training, and Vehicle. Meetings were also held on each of the CVSA programs: Cooperative Hazardous Materials Enforcement Development, Human Trafficking Prevention, International Roadcheck, Level VI Inspections, Operation Airbrake, Operation Safe Driver and North American Inspectors Championship. There was also a meeting of jurisdictions that use performance-based brake testers. At the annual conference, CVSA’s membership voted for the next CVSA secretary. The secretary position is a direct path to the presidency. The person elected into the secretary position will serve one year in that position, one year as vice president, one year as president, then three years as past president. CVSA membership voted Col. Russ Christoferson, with the Montana Department of Transportation, into the position of CVSA secretary on Sept. 1. His term began on Oct. 1. This year’s secretary vote was the first time in the Alliance’s history that Class II Local Members voted for the secretary. In the past,
