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Former Lobbyist Takes Over NHTSA

June 8, 2006

Auto Safety • New Auto Safety Legislation Aims to Protect Children • Insurance Group: Supersport Motorcycles Deadly • Feds Consider Tougher Auto Safety Ratings • Congress Urged to Protect Children from Vehicle Deaths • Motorcycle Death Rates Rising, Safety Chief Warns • Feds to Require Additional Minivan Door Latch • Survey: Teens Still Driving Dangerously • Feds Propose Recorders to Monitor Truckers' Hours • Feds Propose New Auto Safety Tests • Consumers Choosing Tiny Cars Despite Safety Risks • IIHS: Bigger is Better in Car Safety • NHTSA's Dirty Little Secrets • Feds Find Backup Sensors Ineffective • Simpler Dashboards Might Make Cars Safer • States Struggle to Cut Highway Fatality Rate • Ford Makes Stability Control Standard for 2009 • Feds Require Safety Info on New Car Window Stickers • Motorcycle, Pedestrian Deaths Rising • Safer Cars, Not Safer Drivers, Reducing Highway Deaths • Former Lobbyist in Driver's Seat at NHTSA • Must-Have Safety and Convenience Features for New Car Shopping • More ...

Nicole R. Nason is now the new chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Nason, 35, was appointed as the Assistant Secretary of Transportation for governmental affairs in July 2003. In that job she was the chief Transportation Department lobbyist overseeing all relations with Congress.

Nason has also worked at the U.S. Customs Service and as communications director for former Republican Rep. Porter Goss, recently ousted as CIA Director.

Her appointment left safety advocates underwhelmed. Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook has pointed out that, as head of NHTSA Nason would be in the position of implementing measures that she had opposed as a lobbyist for DOT.

Even other lobbyists expressed skepticism. "Maybe she has talents not yet obvious to the outside world," stabbed one auto industry lobbyist.

Nason, who is a lawyer, replaces Dr. Jeffrey Runge. Runge left NHTSA last year to become chief medical officer for the Department of Homeland Security.

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