Federal agencies Bus/limo/taxi Trucking

Truck, bus drivers lack knowledge on CSA: report

February 5, 2014
American Transportation Research Institute ATA Bus drivers Commercial motor vehicle drivers Compliance, Safety and Accountability program Compliance, Safety, Accountability FMCSA Truck drivers

Arlington, VA – Commercial drivers still lack a solid understanding of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program, according to a new report from the American Transportation Research Institute.

ATRI, the research arm of the American Trucking Associations, surveyed nearly 7,800 truck and bus drivers annually from 2011 to 2013 about their perceptions and knowledge of CSA, which was launched in 2010 to track carriers’ safety performance. ATRI also gathered information in 2013 with the help of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance on how well law enforcement personnel understand CSA and whether the program has changed how they conduct inspections.

Among the findings:

  • Drivers answered questions about CSA with 42.4 percent accuracy, compared with 66.5 percent accuracy among law enforcement personnel.
  • Concerns about CSA’s impact on job security decreased about 10 percent since 2011 among truck and bus drivers.
  • Carrier-provided training on CSA has steadily increased since 2011, with 71.6 of drivers in 2013 reporting they had received at least one training session.

Future research will be focused on the effectiveness of carrier-provided CSA training and how CSA education affects enforcement activities, the report stated.

The report can be downloaded by filling out a request form.