Ever since CSA was first being tested in 2009, the FMCSA has been working on a proposal to address the Crash Indicator BASIC. When the FMCSA unveiled the CSA website, it promised to add a feature that would indicate whether or not a crash was the carrier’s fault.
In August 2010, the FMCSA was in the process of reviewing the findings of a feasibility study to determine crash accountability based on Police Accident Reports. As late as December 2011, the FMCSA still indicated it would set up the process to review crash accountability determinations by February or March 2012.
In March, however, FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro reversed course and announced that she was delaying the Agency’s review of the crash accountability process, stating that the Agency needs to rethink its plan. Ferro explained that too many questions were raised about the reliability of Police Accident Reports as the sole source of determining whether a truck driver could have prevented an accident.
The announced delay was a major discouragement to a trucking industry that was anxiously awaiting details of a long sought-after plan.
Why the frown?
Currently, CSA measures motor carrier safety performance based on ALL truck-involved crashes, including those that the carrier did not cause, nor could have prevented.
Early on, carriers raised concerns about the way CSA records crashes since it affects their overall ranking, and can trigger FMCSA enforcement action. Many fleets have complained that they have been seriously harmed by crashes for which their drivers had no blame.
The FMCSA posts this crash information on a public website. Although the public is unable to see a carrier’s ranking in the Crash Indicator BASIC, the total number of crashes (including injuries/fatalities) is made public. Even if the carrier is clearly not at fault in a crash resulting in injury or fatality, the crash website will list the crash as an injury/fatality.
Carriers are frustrated because they have no defense as attorneys, insurance companies, news media, competitors, and shippers are looking at this crash information. The trucking industry is arguing that in crashes where carriers are clearly not at fault, it should be stated as “unavoidable” on the website.
The FMCSA states that including non-preventable crashes in CSA scores is legitimate since statistics clearly show that past crashes are a predictor of future crashes, no matter who’s at fault. However, the Agency also recognizes that non-preventable crashes should carry a different weighting than preventable crashes.
What next?
Before a crash accountability initiative could be implemented, the FMCSA said there needed to be a uniform process for making crash determinations and reviewing police accident reports. The agency also wants to ensure public input in the development process.
During the coming months, an effort to conduct additional research and analysis to determine the feasibility of a crash accountability program will take place. By the end of the year, the agency hopes to answer the question of whether a new process would improve the CSA’s focus on truck crash predictability.
In the meantime
The trucking industry is asking that, at the very least, FMCSA should take immediate action to wipe carriers’ records of crashes that are unambiguously not the fault of the truck driver. These instances should not require a complicated investigative process.
The FMCSA has indicated that they are considering changing the language used with a carrier’s public crash data on the CSA website to make clear — in “bigger, redder letters” — that the list “is in no way, shape or form” intended to convey that the crashes are the fault of the motor carrier.
Driving Ambition is a premier CDL truck driver staffing company serving Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Since 2001, we have specialized in matching safe, experienced CDL drivers for our customers and great job opportunities for our professional truck drivers.
Our commitment to safety and building solid working relationships with both customers and CDL drivers has allowed us to earn an unparalleled reputation with our Proven Drivers and Exceptional Service.
Operation Roadcheck, the world’s largest annual 72-hour roadside inspection and enforcement blitz for CDL drivers and trucking companies, concluded on June 7.
Although the official results of Roadcheck 2012 won’t be released until August, we’d like to hear from drivers who participated in a roadside inspection during the blitz.
If you are a CDL driver and were involved in a Roadcheck 2012 inspection, please share your experience by commenting below (please keep comments professional).
Once the official Roadcheck 2012 results are in, Driving Ambition will keep you informed.
Driving Ambition is a premier CDL truck driver staffing company serving Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Since 2001, we have specialized in matching safe, experienced CDL drivers for our customers and great job opportunities for our professional truck drivers.
Our commitment to safety and building solid working relationships with both customers and CDL drivers has allowed us to earn an unparalleled reputation with our Proven Drivers and Exceptional Service.
Since June is National Safety Month, it’s appropriate that distracted driving is this month's safety topic.
Distracted driving is a growing and dangerous epidemic on America's roadways. Earlier this year, DOT banned texting and cell phone use for CDL truck drivers.
The final rule prohibits CDL truck drivers in interstate commerce from using a hand-held mobile telephone while operating a commercial truck. Drivers who violate the restriction will face federal civil penalties of up to $2,750 for each offense and disqualification from operating a commercial motor vehicle for multiple offenses.
If that doesn’t provide enough incentive, consider:
- In 2010, 3,092 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver and an estimated additional 416,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver.
- Another 18% of injury crashes in 2010 were reported as distraction-affected crashes.
- In the month of June 2011, more than 196 billion text messages were sent or received in the US, up nearly 50% from June 2009.
- More than one out of 10 drivers under the age of 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported as distracted at the time of the crash. This age group has the largest proportion of drivers who were distracted.
- Some 40% of all American teens say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put people in danger.
- Drivers who use hand-held devices are 4 times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.
- Text messaging creates a crash risk 23 times worse than driving while not distracted.
- Sending or receiving a text takes a driver's eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds. If you’re travelling 55 mph, that’s the equivalent of driving the length of an entire football field blindly.
- Driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37%.
It’s important to keep in mind that victims of this nationwide epidemic aren’t statistics. They’re moms and dads; sons and daughters; friends and colleagues. Don’t become one of these statistics and don’t contribute to these statistics.
Keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel. For more driver distraction-related articles, view additional Driving Ambition blogs here.
Driving Ambition is a premier CDL truck driver staffing company serving Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Since 2001, we have specialized in matching safe, experienced CDL drivers for our customers and great job opportunities for our professional truck drivers.
Our commitment to safety and building solid working relationships with both customers and CDL drivers has allowed us to earn an unparalleled reputation with our Proven Drivers and Exceptional Service.
Okay…let’s see a show of hands: All those in favor of the National Drug & Alcohol Testing Clearinghouse for CDL Drivers, please raise your hands really, really high. Wow…it’s unanimous!!
It’s not news that the trucking industry has supported the concept of a centralized database containing prospective employees’ failed or refused DOT drug tests for well over a decade. The people in the know in Washington, DC assure us “it’s right around the corner”. Yet, we know the DC bureaucracy is the only thing slower than my foot speed running from home plate to first base. Although it’s just around the corner, our industry sure could use their help now!
Case in point: Just last week, Driving Ambition (and our Medical Review Officer) would have been happy to add to such a database. Although we are a CDL Driver Staffing company who places qualified drivers with our trucking company customers, Driving Ambition believes all new hired drivers should have a new DOT physical as part of our hiring process. Physicals are conducted by our designated doctors at our occupational health clinic partners. We want our customers to know the new driver has been properly medically qualified to operate their equipment.
During the “turn your head and cough” portion of a recent DOT physical examination, our doctor discovered a nicely concealed bag of foreign urine strapped below our male prospective driver’s “twig and berries” department. Both parties, especially the driver, were a tad bit embarrassed by the discovery. Our doctor did the right thing by asking the driver to remove his “extra bladder” before conducting the pre-employment drug test.
Our red-faced driver went through several immediate mental gyrations and decided the best course of action was to pull up his big boy britches and leave the medical center. The doctor rightfully documented the event as “a refusal to take a pre-employment drug test”.
For those companies who do not conduct new DOT physicals for new drivers, this type of opportunity to prevent drug users from getting behind the wheel of your commercial motor vehicle can be lost. But, the worst part is our industry does not have a centralized database to report this drug user’s event. This driver probably applied for another driving job the next day, utilized the bag of his neighbor’s urine, passed his drug test and just might be behind someone’s wheel as you read this.
I wish we could have warned them about this unsafe driver. As soon as we can get around this next corner, maybe we’ll be able to do so.
Driving Ambition is a premier CDL truck driver staffing company serving Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Since 2001, we have specialized in matching safe, experienced CDL drivers for our customers and great job opportunities for our professional truck drivers.
Our commitment to safety and building solid working relationships with both customers and CDL drivers has allowed us to earn an unparalleled reputation with our Proven Drivers and Exceptional Service.
Operation Roadcheck is a 72-hour roadside inspection and enforcement blitz in which an estimated 10,000 inspectors set up more than 1,000 checkpoints on highways across North America to monitor truck safety compliance. Since its inception in 1988, Operation Roadcheck is the largest targeted enforcement program on commercial vehicles in the world.
As in past events, this year's Roadcheck will focus on commercial vehicle and driver safety and security. However, with the advent of CSA, these roadside inspections now play an even more important role. That’s because all inspection violations will become part of your CSA record. The Safety Measurement System (SMS) uses the on-road safety performance of carriers and drivers to identify candidates for interventions, determine the specific safety problems a carrier or driver exhibits, and to monitor whether safety problems are improving or worsening.
Here are five steps you can take to make sure you survive Roadcheck 2012:
- Understand the inspection process. The roadside inspection involves a comprehensive 37-step procedure which includes items related to vehicle, driver and cargo safety. Click here for a complete list of the inspection procedures.
- Know the most frequently cited violations. Last year, CMV enforcement conducted nearly 71,000 truck and bus inspections during the three-day event, focusing primarily on the Level 1 inspection. HOS logbook violations led overwhelmingly as a percentage of all driver violations cited, as over 50% of drivers placed OOS because of HOS violations. With CSA’s Fatigued Driving BASIC, these HOS violations affect both the driver’s and the carrier’s CSA scores. Only 14% of those drivers inspected indicated they were using electronic logs. For equipment, the most frequent violations include brake issues, tires and wheels, lights, load securement, steering, frames, and suspensions. See Top Hazards for Truck Drivers during Roadside Inspections.
- Keep your vehicle clean and well maintained.
- Conduct thorough pre- and post-trip inspections.
- Treat the inspector with courtesy and respect.
For more information on Operation Roadcheck, visit http://www.cvsa.org/. The 2012 edition of the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria Handbook and Pictorial is also now available for purchase.
Driving Ambition is a premier CDL truck driver staffing company serving Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Since 2001, we have specialized in matching safe, experienced CDL drivers for our customers and great job opportunities for our professional truck drivers.
Our commitment to safety and building solid working relationships with both customers and CDL drivers has allowed us to earn an unparalleled reputation with our Proven Drivers and Exceptional Service.