Despite Recent Changes to CSA Program, Industry Concerns Remain

Source: ttnews.com/articles/petemplate.aspx?storyid=30831
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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — If there was ever any doubt that the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program is rattling the freight industry, a recent all-day meeting of industry stakeholders here made it crystal clear that truckers, shippers, brokers and nonprofit groups alike still have concerns with the program.

Despite a consensus that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new safety monitoring program is a step in the right direction, truckers said they remain concerned that the scoring data is not always an accurate predictor of crash risk.

Shippers and brokers say they are grappling with how to use CSA data to help them determine which carriers are the safest to haul their freight.

And, public-interest nonprofits have taken issue with the reliability of police accident reports and data from roadside inspections being forwarded to FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Management Information System — the data ultimately used to assign the safety scores for carriers and drivers.

Those issues, and others, took front and center at a sometimes contentious Dec. 5 meeting of a specially appointed CSA subcommittee of FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee.

Calling CSA a “work in progress,” FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro has tasked the subcommittee with helping the agency to smooth some of CSA’s wrinkles.

“One of the things that has become clear is that it’s all  about the data,” said the subcommittee’s chairman, David Parker.

Parker, who asked the subcommittee to send him a list of its top CSA concerns in time for the group’s next meeting in February, said on some issues they need to act quickly... Continue reading (log-in to TTnews is required.)

Source: ttnews.com/articles/petemplate.aspx?storyid=30831
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