By Dave Bean, Editor, In the Public Interest
February 15, 2023
President Joe Biden announced that he’d like former environmental attorney Ann Carlson to lose the “acting” descriptor in her job title and become the official Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Carlson assumed the interim role in September 2022 after serving as that department’s Chief Counsel. Prior to joining the NHTSA, she was an award-winning law professor at UCLA, focused on the environment and climate change. Carlson joined the university’s law school following five years in private practice. She has also co-authored and co-edited books on the environment, as well as The Clean Air Act.
Ann Carlson
Educated at another University of California school, Ann Carlson graduated magna cum laude from UC Santa Barbara. From there, she headed east to Harvard Law School, where she received her juris doctor degree. Her husband, Carl Moor, sits on the bench of California’s Court of Appeals. The couple have two children.
Joe Biden is apparently pleased with how Carlson has run the NHTSA since she took over. One of her more noteworthy achievements came in the form of a trailblazing Standing General Order, mandating that data generated from vehicles with automated driving systems and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) be reported to her department in a timely fashion. This move ensures that the NHTSA can keep its finger on the pulse of these innovative technologies and keep up in regard to developing and recommending appropriate safety measures.
Other highlights of Ann Carlson’s tenure include:
- Led the fight requiring that heavy-duty vehicles be equipped with automatic emergency braking capabilities and that light-duty vehicles have emergency brakes activated by potential pedestrian contact.
- Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, she garnered a 50% expansion in agency resources.
- Following a directive from the President, strengthened year-over-year fuel economy benchmarks, the most stringent fuel requirements of its kind in the history of the NHTSA.
