First week first wreck

NO! The state office that handles inspection data is the agency designated by the state to be in compliance with the federal MCSAP program. Your analysis of this is 100% wrong. In a previous posting I showed you how this is done.

 

YES! Don't conflate DOT inspections and DOT procedures and normal, everyday law enforcement procedures. If you get in an accident or you get a ticket from J. Random Copper while you are driving your CMV the ticket / accident WILL be reported by the state to the feds IF the officer checks the boxes on the forms. PERIOD. No DOT officer required.

 

The Federal MCSAP program DOES NOT work like that. Data gets put into the CSA system 2 basic ways. 1 a DOT cop fills out an inspection form OR there is a state or federal intervention and the results of this is turned over to the FMCSA. That stupid CMV check box has NOTHING to do with what gets reported to the feds. ALL of this is covered in §350.

 

THIS is an official FMCSA CSA information PDF. On page 2-1 these data sources are CLEARLY spelled out. Before you go there and copy that last paragraph back to me as proof of your position READ it carefully. When states get involved with crash data it means there is an enforcement action of some kind. This is NOT done as routine everyday.

 

So you would have us believe that if we get in an accident with our CMV it will not appear in CSA unless DOT shows up and does an inspection? Really? Because I can assure you it don't work like that, either.

That tick box IS how the state knows to add the report to the notification. You need to read the data source section of the PDF you linked again. Or are you going to argue that only accidents that occur AT a roadside inspection location are reported?

 

You can believe what you want. I am showing you the ACTUAL rules. You are not arguing with me, your arguing with the rules. Just to be clear I have been involved in this 4 times over the last 10 years. STATES DO NOT send data into the FMCSA like that unless there is a supporting enforcement action or intervention. IT IS NOT routine!

 

Also I hate to further bust your bubble, but hard copies of tickets are NOT sent to the states. Most of the time after the courts are done they are either filed away or destroyed. The local courts clerks office then sends the information to the states DMV dept via a computer keypunch most of the time on a state computer database system they have access to. Then any out of state drivers cited get this information sent on to their states through this. I know of no state that handles tickets like this. In the state of Florida there were 4.4 million tickets issued in 2004. There is only 525,600 minutes in a year. to handle this volume it would take around 9 people processing a ticket a minute every minute for an entire year. This is done by the local courts and they enter it on the database.

 

It is routine. It is how the system works. You are hung up on some understanding that is blinding you to what is right there in front of you.

You are taking the position that the vast majority of CMV crashes are not included in CSA. Because the vast majority of CMV accidents that result in injury or towing are not investigated by a DOT officer. So there is no inspection.

I know you told me not to quote this, but we probably have an audience so here it is for them.

The MCMIS crash file exists to catalog ALL accidents of CMVs meeting the criteria. The states are required to submit ALL CMV accident reports. It's how the system is set up. Yes, it is ROUTINE.

 

I'm done!

 

Hard copy? What are you talking about?

Most states that I am aware of are generating tickets and accident reports through software and printing a copy for the motorist at need. The officer does the initial data entry and then all the data moves electronically.