That's a major question for the entire industry.
TransCore 3sixty Carrier Blog
Starting in July, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will roll out its new Comprehensive Safety Analysis (CSA) 2010 program nationwide, heralding a new level of complexity in carriers’ regulatory compliance. CSA 2010 has already been field tested in six states; it is scheduled to be fully implemented by the end of this year.
CSA 2010 continues the FMCSA’s system of inspections at the roadside and in the yard, but scores will be updated monthly, and ratings will incorporate on-highway performance. The program includes significant changes in the measurement of carrier performance data and adds new categories for driver performance, as well. Driver violations will affect the overall rating for the carriers who employ them.
Instead of the four categories that exist today in SAFER, the CSA will group carrier and driver safety performance data into seven categories called BASICs: Behavioral Analysis Safety Improvement Categories. All seven BASICS may be affected by driver behavior:
- Unsafe driving
- Fatigued driving, including Hours of Service (HOS) compliance
- Driver fitness
- Controlled substance or alcohol
- Vehicle maintenance
- Improper loading of cargo
- Crash indicators
Based on a carrier’s weighted score within each BASIC, the CSA 2010 measurement system will trigger the Agency to intervene with the carrier, or alert the agency that carrier performance has reached the “unfit” threshold.
At that point, CSA 2010 triggers progressive interventions – from a warning letter to an actual claim notice – to advise the motor carrier or driver that their safety performance requires correction. These steps are meant to improve unsafe behavior early.
As the CSA 2010 system rolls out, fitness determinations will be based on performance data processed through the measurement system, and will not necessarily follow the current FMCSA compliance review process.
What are the implications for carriers? The new safety measurement and rating system is a “game changer,” according to a recent editorial in Transport Topics. The FMCSA’s intent is to streamline carrier safety ratings and make them more accurate and responsive nationwide, but the quality of the underlying data will depend on uniformity in reporting from state to state.
Further, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) submitted lengthy comments on CSA 2010, including the recommendation that data should be normalized according to total miles traveled, rather than the number of power units, as the most important weighting factor.
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