The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) won’t adopt a complex data collection method (known as the Item Response Theory or IRT) recommended in 2017 for motor carrier safety scores. However, it will make changes to its Safety Measurement System, including using certain aspects of the IRT. After studying and testing the IRT, FMCSA found “many limitations and practical challenges” and concluded it “does not improve overall safety”.
The agency’s IRT analysis revealed ways to improve the Safety Measurement System (SMS) to identify high-risk carriers for intervention. This includes reorganizing the Safety Categories, combining 959 violations used in SMS with 14 additional violations into 116 groups, simplifying violation severity weights, removing percentile jumps, and adjusting Intervention Thresholds. FMCSA prioritizes carriers for safety interventions when their SMS scores in the seven BASIC categories reach or exceed pre-established Intervention Thresholds, with lower thresholds being the goal.
The SMS quantifies the safety performance of motor carriers using data from the Motor Carrier Management Information System. Problems identified in the IRT analysis ranged from bias to difficulty in understanding. Proposed changes include organizing violations, simplifying severity weights, and adjusting intervention thresholds. A Compliance Safety Accountability Prioritization Preview website is now live for carriers to preview their data. FMCSA will accept public comments through May 16.
Sources: https://www.ttnews.com/articles/fmcsa-proposes-changes-its-motor-carrier-safety-measurement-system
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