The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration named a new chief safety officer who has more than 35 years of combined industry and law enforcement experience in commercial motor vehicle safety.

Steve Dowling joins FMCSA after serving as senior director of safety at Covenant Logistics and in leadership roles in commercial motor vehicle industry organizations.

While at Covenant Logistics, Dowling helped lead the company to three consecutive years of record reductions in crash rates, according to the FMCSA.

Prior to that, Dowling served with the California Highway Patrol, where he rose to chief of the Valley Division serving the greater Sacramento region. He oversaw operations across 20 commands, a commercial vehicle enforcement facility, and three communications centers across 10 counties.

As chief safety officer, FMCSA said, he will help lead FMCSA's safety programs and initiatives, working with federal, state, and industry partners to advance the agency's mission of reducing crashes, fatalities, and injuries involving large trucks and buses while ensuring the safe and efficient movement of freight throughout the United States.

Working With Industry

Dowling served as chair of the American Trucking Associations' Law Enforcement Advisory Board and previously served as president of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance issued a statement congratulating Dowling, noting that he was a longtime leader within CVSA, where he chaired the CVSA Training Committee and served as president of the Alliance in 2010-2011. 

In comments on an FMCSA LinkedIn post about the announcement, some praised the combination of law enforcement and industry experience. Many drivers and owner-operators were critical of his lack of behind-the-wheel experience. A number of comments brought up the ongoing problems with the rollout of MOTUS.

Previous Chief Safety Officers

Previous chief safety officers have included Jack Van Steenburg and Sue Lawless.

Van Steenburg retired from the agency in May 2024 and now acts as a consultant under the name CMV Safety Experts.

In a YouTube video short from Trucksafe, Van Steenburg explains that the chief safety officer is not a political position, but is the highest career position in the FMCSA.

“Basically the role I had in that was to oversee all the safety programs. And that included our compliance programs, our enforcement programs, new entrant safety audits, intermodal programs, anything to do with safety.”

Lawless, who briefly led FMCSA in an acting role after the resignation of administrator Robin Hutchison in January 2024, left the agency last August to join the Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson and Feary law firm.