Risky Business

Data Qs

By Shelly Benisch, CIC
Posted Aug 22nd 2011 8:22AM

Thanks to everyone out there for making John's CIS Sprinter Tour fun and informative. Being on the road for a couple of weeks makes us Muggles who are on the flip side of Expediting appreciate you Wizards who drive for weeks on end even more impressive.

At the tail end of his journey, he spent a day in class down in Greenville, SC for a Trucking Law update presented by Attorney Rob Mosely. John and I both attend these types of events every few months to ensure we're staying on top of the latest contracts, legal requirements and policy structure.

He asked me to mention to all of you a section of FMCSA they covered for about an hour on Data Qs, or how to dispute a safety violation. Most of you are probably familiar with PSP, Pre-Employment Screening where FMCSA tracks and provides the Motor Carriers with crash and inspection info on potential leased on Independent Contractor Owner Operators.

But what do you do if your PSP comes back inaccurate...there's something on that record that is wrong and needs to be corrected! Rather than rely on your Motor Carrier to solve your problem, especially if you're thinking of making a jump, simply go to FMCSA Data Qs yourself:

https://dataqs.fmcsa.dot.gov/login.asp

You will need a User Name and Password, but if you don't have one already it lets you register online then circle around to log into the system right away. That page allows you to enter your challenge and request a review.

This is just a basic overview as it's a user friendly site.

The more knowledge you have about how things work can make you a more confident, professional Owner Operator.

Shelly Benisch, CIC

Commercial Insurance Solutions, Inc. (CIS)