"The winds of change" are afoot at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said FMCSA chief Ray Martinez in his opening keynote at the annual conference of the National Association of Small Trucking Companies November 1. The three-day event is ongoing in Nashville, Tenn. Leadership at the Department of Transportation on up to the President of the United States, he added, "wants us to work with the regulated community," he added, going on to emphatically validate an oft-repeated statistic among the small-fleet and owner-operator community. "I recognize and respect the fact -- and this is a fact," Martinez emphasized -- "that 90 percent of the trucking industry is represented by carriers with 10 or fewer power units. ... It may not have been recognized in the past, but I can tell you it is loud and clear in our offices today."