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| FMCSA Promises Changes in Fleet Safety Evaluations |
FMCSA officials told trucking executives at ATA's annual meeting they should prepare for radical changes in how the agency evaluates the safety of fleets, beginning next year. FMCSA said its revised saety fitness rating system - known as CSA 2010 (Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010) - will be implemented in the second half of next year and provide more opportunities for the agency to rate carriers based on a variety of safety-related factors. Every month the CSA 2010 safety measurement system will use roadside inspection violations and crash reports to monitor, evaluate and establish a carrier's safety performance rating; thus the agency will be able to give more carriers an accurate grade. FMCSA currently only assesses a safety rating after a compliance review. Under CSA 2010, there will be safety assessments on a monthly basis, rating as many as 250,000 carriers monthly, providing dynamic, realtime assessments of safety. CSA 2010 will give enforcement officers a toolbox of interventions, ranging from warning letters and on-site reviews to fines and other penalties. Under the program, violations would be divided into seven categories: unsafe driving, fatigued driving, driver fitness, substance abuse, vehicle maintenance, cargo-related violations and crash indicators. They would then be weighted, based on links to the causes of crashes. The goal is to achieve compliance, not to collect money. FMCSA hopes to publish the proposed rule laying out the process in January. |
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*** Questions about this info? Contact Linda Norman at 703-821-0000 or linda@donnormanassociates.com *** |