In The News
FMCSA removes all SMS information
WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has removed much of the information formerly available on the agency's website related to property carriers' compliance and safety information.
The Fixing America's Transportation Infrastructure (FAST) Act of 2015 specifically prohibits the FMCSA from displaying carriers CSA scores and rankings. CSA is part of the agency's Safety Management System (SMS).
Other information, such as violations and actual safety rating, could be displayed under the FAST Act, but the agency said while it is not prohibited from displaying all of the data, no information will be available for property carriers while appropriate changes are made, an indication that the FMCSA plans to make the non-prohibited data available when the CSA website has been reprogrammed.
This also applies to information provided to the public through the QCMobile app. The FMCSA was working to return the website and app to operation as quickly as possible. All information on passenger carriers remains available, and enforcement users and motor carriers can view safety data by using their login information.
Motor carriers can also access their own data.
The FAST Act says FMCSA must keep the scores until the agency completes the corrective action plan requirement as listed in FAST and until the agency satisfactorily addresses issues raised in a 2015 General Accounting Office report that said modifying the CSA program would improve the ability to identify high-risk carriers.
The FAST Act says FMCSA must commission a DOT Transportation Research Board study of the accuracy of CSA's Safety Measurement System in identifying high-risk carriers and predicting future crash risk and severity. Furthermore, within 18 months, FMCSA must submit the study to Congress and 120 days later, a corrective action plan to address deficiencies identified in the study.
Then, within four months, the IG must determine if the plan properly addresses the study's recommendations.
A majority of trucking stakeholders have long sought to have the scores removed from public view because they feel the scores do not accurately reflect the safety performance of individual carriers.
The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at [email protected].