In The News

‘Driver scorecard’ coming in 2010

In 2010 the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hopes to implement a new safety compliance system for carriers and owner-operators and other drivers with a greatly expanded database.

The agency’s Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 contains a new Safety Measurement System to replace the current SafeStat system, as well as new intervention options and a proposed change for evaluation through a new approach to the Safety Fitness Determination (SFD). The CSA will group company drivers and owner-operators as drivers.

FMCSA proposes changing the safety determination by tying it to current safety performance, instead of today’s limitation to compliance review acute/critical violations. Also, under the new program, every carrier and driver will have a safety determination, instead of just carriers.

Joe Beacom, Landstar vice president and chief of compliance, security and safety, described CSA as a “fundamental change in regard to enforcement and measurement.”

Beacom describes the new system as providing “essentially a driver scorecard. (CSA) is generally a positive and smart thing to do,” he said.

In an October Congressional report, FMCSA said it expects to publish a SFD Notice of Proposed Rulemaking before 2010. CSA implementation does not depend on this rulemaking, however, and it missed earlier deadlines this year.

Until the rulemaking takes effect, if a carrier has a poor safety performance and is unresponsive to the new CSA interventions, it will undergo a compliance review and be rated in accordance with FMCSA’s current compliance and enforcement process.

Perhaps the biggest change for drivers is in the information that will be used to rate drivers and carriers. The current SafeStat program only assesses carriers and uses roadside inspection information on out-of-service and moving violations. CSA will assess carriers and drivers using all safety-based roadside inspection violations, such as equipment and log book violations.

Norita Taylor, spokeswoman for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said CSA will use “all violations on inspection reports, even if there is no citation issued.”

The CSA will provide a Driver Safety Measurement System of 36 months of road safety performance and 24 months for carriers through the Carrier Safety Measurement System.

Jay Thomas, who heads safety and compliance for the Illinois-based Packard Transport, said many owner-operators doubt whether CSA 2010 will become a reality. Still, he said, “Sixty percent are very concerned because they have so much invested in being an owner-operator.”

There are four safety evaluation areas under the current system: accident, driver, vehicle and safety management.

By contrast, the proposed system quantifies performance through seven behavior analysis and safety improvement categories (BASIC), which are unsafe driving, fatigued driving, driver fitness, controlled substances/alcohol, vehicle maintenance, cargo related (including hazmat) and crash indicators.

FMCSA has proposed using BASIC scores to create safety fitness determinations for drivers and carriers and will update that information monthly.

CSA will allow safety investigators to see a driver’s complete safety record, according to a September FMCSA presentation to OOIDA. Investigators will be able to examine drivers cited for severe driver violations, in conjunction with carrier interventions.

Currently, only CSA test state carriers have access to Carrier Safety Measurement System data through the Comprehensive Safety Information (CSI) system. The Carrier SMS data will be assessable beyond the test states when CSA begins full implementation next summer, according to an agency presentation to OOIDA.

In an Oct. 22 Congressional report, FMCSA sent 4,046 warning letters from February 2008 to August 2009 asking carriers in test states to address safety deficiencies.

As of September 2008, the agency tested Colorado, Georgia, Missouri and New Jersey, putting 34,000 carriers in test or control groups. During the first six months, more than 2,100 of these carriers received at least one of the following progressive interventions:

Warning letter Targeted Roadside Inspection Off-Site Investigation On-Site Investigation – Focused Cooperative Safety Plan Notice of Violation
Those are the CSA carrier interventions used in increasing severity, which could be followed by an on-site investigation-comprehensive notice of claim/settlement agreement and unfit suspension.

FMCSA spokesman Duane DeBruyne explained the process under CSA when a carrier’s safety performance is deficient and triggers an intervention. “Among the aspects that will be reviewed by the safety investigator will be the safety performance of the drivers associated with that carrier,” DeBruyne said. “Should any of the drivers have a deficient safety ratings, this matter will be raised to the carrier – along with the other possible safety performance concerns for that carrier that may exist.”

But if a driver’s safety rating is particularly troublesome, regardless of the carrier’s rating, “CSA 2010 will automatically flag that driver and trigger an intervention with the carrier he/she is associated with,” he said.

Thomas said the U.S. Department of Transportation will contact drivers rated as marginal or unfit and they will have to undergo intervention.

“Only after the intervention, and if the driver continues to demonstrate unsafe or risky behavior, then could the driver be declared unfit by the DOT and removed from the road,” Thomas said.

The plan is for SMS to replace SafeStat and inspect carriers with deficient BASICs on the roadside next summer. From July to December 2010, the agency will send warning letters notifying carriers nationwide with unacceptable BASIC scores.

SafeStat’s reliance on compliance reviews results in inspecting only 2 percent of carriers. In testing, CSA has allowed agency officials to investigate 20 percent more carriers. In April, FMCSA predicted its divisions should be able to contact 40 percent more carriers.

CSA’s progressive carrier interventions increase in severity and interaction with carriers and their drivers. Carrier interventions are triggered by one or more deficient BASICs, a high crash indicator, or a complaint or fatal crash.

More information is available at www.fmcsa.dot.gov/csa2010 .

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