Federal agencies Bus/limo/taxi Trucking Transportation

FMCSA seeking more input on how it decides if motor carriers are safe

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Washington — As the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration considers revising how it determines if truck and bus companies are fit to operate safely, the agency is asking for feedback on research that could impact its decision.

FMCSA is looking for input on six studies. Topics include:

  • In-vehicle monitoring systems
  • The association between crashes and safety-critical events
  • The impact of federal compliance reviews on reducing crashes
  • The effectiveness of forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking systems on front-to-rear crash rates

Comments are due Feb. 12.

FMCSA determines whether motor carriers are able to operate safely by using existing motor carrier data and data collected during compliance reviews. This forms a three-tiered rating system of satisfactory, conditional or unsatisfactory.

The agency accepted comment through Nov. 29 on a possible new methodology for making this determination, considering input on:

  • Available science or technical information to analyze regulatory alternatives for determining carrier fitness
  • Current agency safety fitness determination regulations, including feedback on the process and impacts
  • Available data and costs for regulatory alternatives reasonably likely to be considered

In 2017, FMCSA withdrew a proposed rule that would have changed the SFD process for motor carriers.

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Title

Name
February 9, 2024
Short Haul is in a difficult spot, regarding driver behavior-based scoring. There is a great deal of responsibility for the carrier when it comes to violations, in many cases, those conditions are simply not preventable. Pushing more responsibility on the individual operators who refuse to comply seems to be the deterrent that is missing. Whether that comes in the form of a financial penalty, government-mandated/provided retraining, or a combination thereof is unknown. Our fleet traveled over 3.5 million miles last year and two cell phone violations amongst nearly 100 operators, have us on the safety threshold. There has to be a better way. - Sincerely, - a frustrated fleet manager.

Title

Jennifer
February 9, 2024
FMCSA should not hold the company at fault when a violation occurs that was solely on the driver. Failure to change duty status for example. Holding the driver accountable will help to reduce violations and not hurt companies that are trying to enforce a safety culture. All accidents are not the fault of the carrier. This should be reflected better on the safer report.