It seems that the despite the lawsuits filed against it, the congressional hearings voicing concerns over it,, and the GAO investigation into it, the FMCSA is undeterred and has plowed ahead with their roll-out of the much maligned Compliance, Safety and Accountability system. On Tuesday, they released their QCMobile app which makes CSA scores even easier to access by the general public.
The reaction to the FMCSA’s announcement over the app’s release was swift and brutal. The ATA issued a statement urging people not to use the app because of the “serious flaws [with the CSA system ] that have been identified by the [GAO] and others.”
“Tuesday’s announcement by FMCSA is recklessness cloaking itself as transparency,” said an ATA spokesperson. “The Compliance, Safety, Accountability system was designed to better target potentially unsafe carriers, but a report issued by the Government Accountability Office last year characterized CSA safety scores as often being unreliable and imprecise.” He went on to say that “It is wholly inappropriate for FMCSA to encourage and facilitate public access and use. The agency should immediately pull this tool from the marketplace.”
The FMCSA however seems to think that they’re doing the public a great service. DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx said that they app helps in “providing greater transparency while making our roadways safer for everyone.”
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Source: ttnews, thetrucker, truckinginfo, fleetowner, overdrive
Cliff Downing says
The ATA is not the trucking industry. They are just a political lobbying group that claims to seek the best interest of trucking, but like the poor marksman, they keep missing the target. I have learned to loath just about everything the ATA stands for over the years. When ATA pitched a fit over this app, I knew I had to download it onto my iPhone, and I did. It provides no more information that would be available anyway slogging thru the FMCSA website. Stealing a little from the wisdom of Shakespeare via Hamlet, me thinks they doth protest too much. The ATA’s having a fit over this is likely to have the reverse effect in the real world.
Pedant says
Whomever wrote that article learned their trade from FOX News. The slant is just a bit too obvious.
Samuel Barradas says
Buddy, if you’re expecting unbiased articles from a site called Truckers Report that re-blogs the past week’s news, you need to calibrate your expectations.
The only slant here is that two large entities, both of which have a long history of working against drivers, are getting into a cat fight over a phone app. Pull up a chair and grab some popcorn.
Q1267 says
On one hand, it’s an invasion of privacy. No one but the law, my company, and myself really need to know my CSA score.
On the other hand, I really don’t have anything to hide. I work hard and take pride over being safe when many others don’t. This might sound arrogant, but… what’s the worst that could happen? Maybe some internet trolls doxx me to find out that… I have a safe driving record. Oh no!
Stormy says
I have no problem with them leaving it out there for the world to see if FMCSA would make at least a 10% effort to make sure the information they are putting out there is correct.
It has been proven over and over again that the information isn’t accurate which has caused truckers to lose loads from shippers, insurance premiums to be increased and FMCSA just sees no problem at all with the fact that it is a totally flawed system filled with inaccurate data.
Besides that, taxpayers are paying for the cute little programs. I don’t even want to know how much that cost. I do know we are now going on $8 million dollars FMCSA has tossed away at trying to get a study on when truckers should sleep and when they shouldn’t sleep. They tried to get them to hold off on issuing the new HOS rule because the report wasn’t finished and a court case was pending but FMCSA said nope and charged forward. The little kick of sand, from the children in the playground, in your face cost another $4 million dollar plus for the second report because the first $4 million dollar report wasn’t anywhere near conclusive. So who do we hire to do the second study, the same people who did the first one.
CSA is the classic case of garbage in, garbage out. Until they get the garbage out they shouldn’t be allowed to let anybody see the mess and they shouldn’t spend another dime of taxpayer dollars to create something that they will have to take down then pay again to put back up in another form to get it past while nobody is looking.
I have already contacted my congressman, representative and senator. I really don’t know what it takes to get truckers to pick up their phones and call. It is like the truckers think they are all out here with the FMCSA reading the forum boards to see what we think about something.
Let them just keep rolling on out these ridiculous rules, sit back and take it and you will get just exactly what you deserve and have no right to complain about any of it.
Bill says
Problem is it’s a flawed system. I was driving on I95 last month in the right lane and here comes a car fishtailing at @90 mph. He slams into the sidebox on my trailer. The driver of the car was sited and I was not. I even have it on video where I never left my lane plus to witnesses behind me who were good enough to stop and verify what happened. So here I am in an unavoidable accident but it still goes against me and my company on the CSA score. When someone looks and sees “accident” they immediately think unsafe. They should differentiate between at fault and not at fault. They have the data. Only reason I can see why they wouldn’t is that they want to intentionally vilify truck drivers and trucking companies.
Fishmonger says
The FMCSA won’t change the CSA system regarding accidents. Why? Because they don’t want to get caught up in the litigation process that usually follows. By the time the lawyers and insurance companies get through with an accident investigation and court proceedings, it can take months or even years in some cases. The FMCSA just takes the easy way out for them and assesses it against the driver and his/her company. We had a similar incident with a driver not at fault. When my boss got involved with the FMCSA they told him “that’s just the way it’s done and they weren’t changing it.”
So glad I’m retiring soon. Trucking just isn’t worth it anymore.