If you listen to trucking groups, carriers, or even other government agencies, the Compliance, Safety, Accountability system is broken and now it looks like it’s going to stay that way.
When the FMCSA announced that they would be making changes to their much-maligned CSA program, the trucking industry seemed cautiously optimistic. Unfortunately, none of the big changes that are so sorely needed were made and instead the FMCSA elected to just throw a patch on some of the minor problems and stubbornly refuse to even acknowledge that there were any large problems to even address.
By implementing what the ATA calls “superficial changes” to their CSA system, the trucking group says that the FMCSA is missing the point almost entirely while simultaneously giving themselves a pat on the back for “making more flawed data public.”
“After having a year to consider the recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board-requested Independent Review Team to distinguish form and manner violations from those that cause crashes, FMCSA appears to have dismissed it out of hand,” said ATA Vice President of Public Safety.
Even massive carriers like FedEx and Con-way are speaking out against the lack of any real changes. FedEx gave voice to one the most common objections to the CSA program, saying that the flaws in the system make CSA scores “unreliable.” Con-way addressed the other main issue saying that since the data is bad, it doesn’t do any good to share it with the public and that CSA scores should be used only to determine how to spend enforcement resources if they need to be used at all.
Adding their voices to the roar against the lackluster changes was OOIDA who may have had the most straightforward and succinct objection when it said that “none of the proposed changes resolve the fundamental problems with the system that cause it to damage good carriers’ safety reputations and not accurately identify the worst motor carriers.”
Next Story: Carrier Owner Sentenced To 8-32 Years For Stealing From Employees
Source: overdrive, truckinginfo, ccj
Okay here’s a simple solution to the problem. Pay driver’s by the hour with overtime.
you’ll see driver’s running legal and as slow as the company wants. You’ll also see stuff being fixed instead of driver’s passing stuff just to save time.
Agree I hate having to push the limits on that 11/14/70 but groups like the ATA would never go for it. Trucking companies do not want to pay for all a trucker dose.
I agree. Im paid by the hour with time and 1/2 after 40 hrs. I’m no longer stressed in slow traffic, etc, and I actually have more energy and stamina for long hauls from the lack of that stress. And I haven’t had a late load yet. And NO ACCIDENTS! I’ll never go back to paid by the mile
See other story above regarding truck driver being blamed for 5 car accident.
Everyone will quit if they pay by the hour. Trucking companies will only pay a few pennies over minimum wage. And still demand professionalism at minimum wage.
Trucking companies hate the car being public. Because drivers and others can view it and decide weather they want to have anything to do with them or not. and trucking companies just hate that they can’t hide from the truth. I think it is wrong that company csa scored are determined by other companies of the same size. When I think it would be better for each csa score to be determined on the individual company performance and safety habits.