Ensuring an Effective Transition

With the American people’s selection of Barack Obama as our next President, I want to reaffirm the Department’s commitment to ensuring a smooth and efficient transition from the current to the incoming Administration.  During President Bush’s call to President-Elect Obama Tuesday night, the President offered his complete cooperation with the transition—a pledge he reiterated at yesterday's Cabinet Meeting, and a commitment which I share.

America has an amazing system that allows for the kind of orderly and efficient transitions our government experiences every four years.  To guarantee effective and uninterrupted operations, the leadership at the Department of Transportation is eager to assist our successors as they arrive, and I am counting on every member of the DOT family to do their part in this effort.

President-Elect Obama’s transition team is being assembled, and when they arrive at the Department, they will move into prepared office space to begin their work, receive oral and written briefings on a variety of topics, and have access to SharePoint transition web site.  And to ensure all of their needs are met, I have appointed a Departmental Liaison to provide the team to the information they need to hit the ground running on January 20.

The new Administration has a challenging task ahead.  Over the next two and a half months, they must learn about the operations of this Department and the ongoing policy issues that we have been accustomed to dealing with on a daily basis.  Each and every one of us has a responsibility to make sure they succeed, and we must hand the next Administration the tools and knowledge that will allow them to provide the American people with a safe, efficient and reliable transportation network that is able to react and respond to the challenges of the 21st century.

President Bush has also made it clear this Administration will sprint to the finish.  Accordingly, we will keep working to make our roads, rails and skies safer, keep advocating for innovation and reform, and keep moving forward with important regulatory and policy matters.

I want to thank the entire Department for their support during my time as Secretary.  We’ll have plenty of opportunities to say goodbye over the next 75 days, but I cannot thank you enough for all you have done for the American people.  I truly believe we have the best team in the Administration.

-Secretary Peters

Comments

[Jim Grapes]

Having served in the military for 24 years and observing intelligence briefs on hot spots around the world, the transition of power is a frequent cause of unrest. I am regularly amazed at the non violent transfer of power in this country. I looks like a possible stimulus package may benefit the transportation infrastructure in this country.

[JM Palacios]

Secretary Peters,
Thanks for doing a good job as Secretary of Transportation! Before you leave the post, have you had a chance to do anything about deadly motorcycle-guardrail accidents that have a nasty tendency to decapitate the motorcyclist? As a motorcyclist, you probably care deeply about such issues.

Europe's Central European Committee for Standardization (CEN) is developing standards to make guardrail safer for motorcycle impact. See the news at http://www.fema.ridersrights.org/news/show_news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1213813653&archive=&template=

Also, this essay discusses the issue and shows pictures of some of the systems in development: http://www.irfnews.org/files/pdfs/Motorcycle_Guardrail_Crashes_-_Winning_Essay.pdf It would be a fitting contribution for a motorcyclist Secretary if you could get some research started into systems that have the potential to save the lives of many motorcyclists.

[Bern Grush]

Secretary Peters,

As you complete your own "tour of duty" as Secretary of Transportation during a time in which road congestion has reached a critical pitch, fuel costs have risen dramatically, vehicle miles traveled have dropped, the fuel-tax has come unravelled, the Highway Trust Fund crashed, and a fledgling consensus has arisen that a sharp change in how we should pay for roads is now in evidence, you have performed brilliantly. Your clarity of leadership as evidenced in what you have said, written and done has inspired me and others who would see our surface transport network healed.

Thank you.
Bern Grush
grushhour.com