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Barrs was appointed by DeSantis in 2024 to serve on the Flagler County School Board.
As a new deputy in the 1990s, just 18 years old at the time, Derek Barrs arrived at the scene of an accident on the highway one night, in Madison County. What he saw changed him.
A car full of baseball players and their girlfriends had been driving on a dark road. A logging truck was in front of them, and since the truck didn’t have the required lights on the back of it, the driver of the car apparently didn’t see it in time.
The results were horrific. In the crash, a log had smashed through the windshield of the car, striking a young woman in the face, killing her.
“They ran up under it, and it killed them immediately,” Barrs, now 52, recalled. “The car caught fire.” He added:
“I will hold that forever in my mind as a reminder of what I do.”
Barrs went on to serve for 30 years in traffic safety, and now he has the opportunity to take on the highest role in the nation. On March 25, he was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
If the U.S. Senate confirms the nomination, Barrs will oversee a $1 billion budget and 1,100 employees.
Once confirmed, he will also vacate the seat that he currently holds: He was nominated to serve on the Flagler County School Board in October 2024, by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Barrs said he is sad to leave that post behind, but he plans to serve on the School Board until he is confirmed.
Barrs said the federal nomination came as a surprise. He has never met Trump.
However, he has been involved in many organizations that may have had a role in recognizing his work.
In a letter of support sent Jan. 28, 2025 to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Barrs was praised by the leadership of the American Trucking Associations for his “extensive leadership in commercial enforcement.”
Barrs served as a troop commander for the Florida Highway Patrol for many years, including as chief of commercial vehicle enforcement for FHP for two years, before he retired in January 2020.
“Beyond Mr. Barrs’s experience in commercial vehicle enforcement, he brings over five years of industry experience, working most recently as a consultant on traffic-related and commercial motor vehicle safety projects across various states,” the ATA letter states. “The experience and expertise Mr. Barrs gleaned through these roles ultimately led him to a position on ATA’s Law Enforcement Advisory Board in 2021, where he has helped strengthen the ties between the trucking industry and the law enforcement community. This group’s active collaboration with federal and state officials, along with local, state, and national law enforcement organizations, has been instrumental in securing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grant funding to expand truck parking capacity nationwide.”
Barrs currently works for HNTB Corp. as associate vice president, working with departments of transportation around the country.
The largest budget Barrs has overseen to this point in his career is about $30 million, so $1 billion will be an adjustment, “but the concept is the same,” he said. About 60% of the $1 billion is distributed via grants.
In one sense, it all started in when he was 18, on that dark road in Madison County.
“I didn’t realize that would have such an effect on me,” Barrs recalled. But, he learned that night that “enforcing certain rules and requirements can help save lives, and how important it is to get unsafe vehicles off the roadway.”
He continued: “The devastation that can occur whenever people are distracted driving and not paying attention — it causes a ripple effect on not just people that were killed, but their friends and families, and it goes on and on.”
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