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Carrier interactions with FMCSA to likely soar under CSA 2010, field test shows

WASHINGTON — If the field test is any indication, motor carriers generally had best be prepared for a very significant increase in interactions with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration under CSA 2010 than under the current enforcement system.

The agency’s new initiative to improve large truck and bus safety and ultimately reduce commercial motor vehicle related crashes, injuries and fatalities will replace the current SafeStat compliance review system later this year.

In January 2008, FMCSA and its state partners initiated a 30-month field test to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of the new safety management system (SMS) and intervention components of the CSA 2010 model.

The field test began with four states — Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, and New Jersey.

Five more states were added in the fall of 2009 — Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, and Montana.

FMCSA and its state partners applied the new SMS and CSA 2010 interventions to all of the motor carriers in those states to learn of any operational issues arising from use of the CSA 2010 model on all motor carriers in a state prior to a nationwide rollout.

Based on the actual field test, the FMCSA provided the following data to The Trucker on five what could be informally called “interaction” categories — carriers contacted, interventions, investigations, follow ons and warning letters.

The Trucker asked FMCSA to compare the actual data from the field test to what would have occurred under SafeStat based on the same circumstances.

Warning letters more than quadrupled from an estimated 940 under SafeStat to 4,232 under CSA 2010.

Carriers contacted and interventions more than doubled.

Carriers contacted jumped from an estimated 2,540 to 6,460 during the field test.

Interventions went from an estimated 3,690 to 8,049.

Investigations went from 2,040 to 2,748 and follow ons from 710 to 1,069.

During the field test, motor carriers domiciled in each state were randomly divided into two groups equal in size — a test group and control group to provide a comparison between CSA 2010 and the current FMCSA business model.

Motor carriers in the test group were assessed using the new SMS, and the CSA 2010 interventions were applied.

Those in the control group were assessed using SafeStat, and the current compliance review was used for intervention.

Lyndon Finney of The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at[email protected] .

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