Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, May 9, 2023:
Owner-operators have one more week to comment on proposed changes to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s CSA carrier Safety Measurement System.
As part of the proposed changes, FMCSA is looking to reorganize the current Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs), which the agency plans to renamed simply “safety categories.” FMCSA also proposes to combine the current 959 violations used in SMS, plus 14 additional violations not currently used, into 116 new violation groups.
The agency also planned to moved the Controlled Substances/Alcohol and Operating while Out-of-Service (OOS) violations into the Unsafe Driving category, then splitting the Vehicle Maintenance category in two -- Vehicle Maintenance: Driver Observed and the broader Vehicle Maintenance. The new "Driver Observed" category would be reserved for roadside “violations that could reasonably be observed by a driver” during a pre- or post-trip inspection, “or detected as part of a Walk-Around (Level 2) roadside inspection.”
[Related: FMCSA proposes long-overdue CSA carrier Safety Measurement System revamp]
Another part of the proposed changes is simplifying violation severity weights and adjusting intervention thresholds.
As part of the proposal, FMCSA launched a new website, the Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) Prioritization Preview, which allows motor carriers to preview how their data would appear under the proposed changes. Companies are encouraged to preview these results and submit feedback on the proposed changes.
