CSA SMS Website Updated

The CSA Safety Measurement System (SMS) Website has been updated with the February 26, 2016 snapshot.

Section 5223 (c) of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) of 2015 requires the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to keep property carriers’ absolute measures available to the public.

These measures are generated directly from safety data and not based on relative comparison to other motor carriers.

The FAST Act prohibits the display of a property carrier’s relative percentile, so on December 4, 2015, FMCSA removed the information prohibited from display, and also removed the absolute measures to allow time to modify the SMS Website to be compliant.

At this time, those modifications are complete and the SMS Website is fully compliant with the FAST Act.

All information on passenger carriers continues to remain available.

If you are a motor carrier and do not have login credentials, please click here for more information on how to obtain your PIN.

Monitoring Speeding with Posted Speed Limits

Speeding has a direct and adverse effect on safety. Higher overspeed incident count and time overspeed are predictors of a higher accident rate. Can tools for Posted Speed Limit monitoring and speeding violation reporting contribute to improvements in safety? …

 

Read Full Article…

ATRI SOLICITING TRUCKING INDUSTRY CRASH COST DATA FOR NEW RESEARCH

 

Arlington, VA – The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the trucking industry’s not-for-profit research organization, today launched a new data collection initiative to create a database of motor carrier crash costs by crash type and severity. This data collection will populate ATRI research designed to enable carriers to make better informed Onboard Safety System (OSS) deployment decisions.

This request for data is targeted toward motor carriers.  ATRI is also working with its insurance industry partners to complete the crash cost database.

Participating motor carriers will be asked to provide information on common crash costs such as:

·    Property Damage

·    Attorney and Court Costs

·    Towing and Recovery Costs

This research was identified as a top priority by ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee and will update a number of Onboard Safety System cost-benefit analyses that ATRI has published over the past decade.
Motor carriers interested in supporting this research initiative can access the data request form on ATRI’s website here.  All submitted data will be treated as confidential information and ATRI will provide a non-disclosure agreement if requested.  The research will aggregate the data and no identifiable characteristics will be reported.

What is an “Absolute Measure” in the new CSA BASIC Status?

By Dennis McGee – Dennis McGee and Associates

FMCSA BASIC

An explanation of the term “Absolute Measure” means in the new BASiC status;

The numbers circled in red are the percentiles which we were used to seeing.   These percentages will no longer be seen to the public

The number circled in Yellow are the absolute measure numbers.  These are the numbers the public will see.

The Yellow triangle indicated that the motor carrier was in an Alert Status in that BASIC.  The Yellow triangle will no longer be seen to the public.

The motor carrier will have access to this information by using their assigned “pin” and logging into their FMCSA data.

The absolute measures were always posted, but not much attention was paid to them by the public.  The absolute measure ONLY relates to each individual motor carrier, and not comparing the motor carrier with other motor carriers in their “group”.

Trucking company “A” may have an absolute measure of 1.09 and trucking company “B” may have the same absolute measure of 1.09.  Depending upon each of the motor carrier’s inspection history, the absolute measure of 1.09 may not mean the same for “A” & “B”.

Therefore, the absolute measure viewing by the public does not inform the public of the motor carrier’s Alert Status or percentages relating to other motor carriers in its group.  This meets the FAST Act mandate.