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Notice of new fitness determination rule in ‘front office,’ FMCSA safety chief says

A major revision of the way the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rates trucking companies has hit the “front office” for a final round of review by the agency’s top leadership, FMCSA Chief Safety Officer Jack Van Steenburg told industry executives at the American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition last week.

“It’s very, very detailed,” Van Steenburg said, referring to the changes to the safety fitness determination process, to be based on the Compliance Safety Accountability program. “There’s a lot to it, and I want to make sure I do a very, very thorough read. These rules tend to get complicated over time, but it has to make sense to me.”

The new rating system will feature an “absolute” carrier score derived from CSA, and will not use relative comparisons or groupings, he added.

Following his presentation to the ATA Safety Policy Committee, Van Steenburg told CCJ that by reaching his desk, the draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking had reached the final stage of development within the agency: he, then the FMCSA deputy administrator and finally the administrator will review, revise and sign-off on the notice before passing it on to the Office of the Secretary of Transportation.

“It’s pretty well cleaned up by the time it gets to us,” he said. “But it is a significant rulemaking; there are going to be questions.”

From OST, the NPRM heads to the White House, where the Office of Management and Budget may take as long as 90 days for a final review.

Nonetheless, Van Steenburg said he’d like to see the NPRM published in the 2015 Fiscal Year, meaning by next October.

He again emphasized the scoring system will not be relative. It will be based on roadside inspection data and traditional compliance reviews, though the agency is “redefining” some of the critical and acute violations that factor into the safety fitness determination.

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