00:00Thank you. Senator Klobuchar. Thank you very much and thank you to Senator Lujan for letting me go first here. So, distracted driving. Mr. Morrison, I've long done a lot of work in this area. Like many of our senators, we've lost several constituents, including 19-year-old Shreya Dixit from Eden Prairie, who died just so young, involving another driver when she was a passenger.
00:28You mentioned in your testimony that too many crashes involve distracted drivers and the importance of working with local law enforcement. I think people don't understand how many it is. Early on, I worked on drunk driving a lot when I was prosecutor, and this has kind of done some good things. They're not enough, but it's kind of taken over. And could you talk about the work that you will do?
00:50I was thinking back to Secretary LaHood did a lot in this area early, early on. Talk about what you'd like to do on distracted driving.
00:59Absolutely. And thank you, Senator, for the question. Thank you for your leadership in this area.
01:02We've had over 3,000 fatalities each year, going back to the last five years, that are distracted. And I think that's very well undercounted, unlike impaired driving, where somebody can, you know, there's a blood test or a breathalyzer test where you can tell somebody is impaired.
01:20With distracted driving, it's much more difficult to determine that because you don't have the ability to determine whether or not somebody was using a phone while they're driving.
01:27So I think that's undercounted. I think the messaging that the agency puts out there is very important.
01:34I would look to double down on that messaging and then also working with law enforcement.
01:39And trying to figure out if the spot checks are working or what works, kind of some updated information will be helpful for us.
01:45I think catalytic converter theft, I'm sure you're aware of that.
01:50These catalytic converters taken from unattended cars and last week, Senator Marino, who knows a little bit about cars down there.
01:57He and I reintroduced the PART Act to provide law enforcement officers with the tools and resources they need to crack down on the crimes.
02:07The bill, actually, if you could look at it, tasks NHTSA with updating motor vehicle theft prevention standards to ensure converters are marked with a traceable ID number.
02:17These are oftentimes horrible criminal cartels and organizations that engage in these thefts.
02:24Do you commit to working with us on this issue?
02:26Yeah, absolutely. Catalytic converter theft is a scourge in our society.
02:30It creates a huge amount of inconvenience.
02:33It's very expensive to replace.
02:36And if that bill is passed, I'll absolutely be looking forward to implementing it.
02:39Okay, thank you, Mr. Bars.
02:42Congratulations.
02:43According to recent reports, FMCSA's carrier enforcement efforts have slowed, or at least there's not a quarterly motor carrier safety progress report this year.
02:53Could you talk about how, as a retired law enforcement officer, how law enforcement acts as a deterrent to unwanted and unsafe behavior, and could you move these reports and other things along if you get into your position?
03:07Yes, ma'am.
03:08Thank you for the question, Senator.
03:09That's very important to make sure that we're strengthening enforcement compliance and training, and also the uniformity of making sure things across the board are the same.
03:17I look forward to being able to understand what's going on within the agency of where there's some of these lax potentials may be happening, if you will, and making sure that the investigations are being completed, and that we are taking bad actors off of our roadways that need to carry us out of service, if that's the case, or whatever interventions that need to take place as well.
03:41Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee with Senator Grassley and Senator Durbin held a bipartisan hearing on retail theft, and actually one of the eye-opening things from me out of that hearing was cargo theft, and how these crimes impact the entire food chain and supply chain, and I had no idea how much was going on.
04:02One dairy protein export company in Minnesota has reported an average of one to three break-ins per month in containers of dry milk powder.
04:11If confirmed, will you work to commit to combat these crimes as opposed to committing these crimes?
04:18Senator, thank you for the question, and that is a large yes.
04:21And working closely with all the different stakeholders we have, it has got to be a focus in our time that I've worked on the Law Enforcement Advisory Board for the American Trucking Association, that has been one of their key points for us to work collaboratively with all the different stakeholders to combat this.
04:38But I look forward to working with you and others on this.
04:40Okay, thank you very much.
04:42Mr. Roberti, I had a question on cybersecurity.
04:45I heard it was asked, so I'm going to just confound the other members, like when you ask a question here, then you ask it again, because you want to hear the answer.
04:53But I'll look back at your answer to the question, and it means a lot that Senator Whitehouse introduced you.
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