FMCSA proceeding with changes to its safety measurement system

Washington — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is moving forward on updates to the tool it uses to identify high-risk motor carriers, after weighing stakeholder feedback.

FMCSA uses the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program to rate commercial motor vehicle carriers on safe operation, largely using as criteria the number of violations found during roadside inspections and how many crashes a carrier experiences. Based on that, the agency then consults its Safety Measurement System to identify carriers that may be at risk for future violations or crashes.

A February 2023 request for comment on proposed changes yielded 176 responses, most of which “voiced support” for:

• Reorganized and updated SMS safety categories, currently known as Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories, or BASICs
• Consolidated violations
• Simplified violation severity weights
• Proportionate percentiles instead of safety event groups
• Improved intervention thresholds that identify carriers for possible intervention
• Greater focus on recent violations
• An updated utilization factor

FMCSA also intends to rename BASICs “compliance categories” in an effort to “provide simpler and more relatable terminology.”

In a notice published Nov. 20, FMCSA Deputy Administrator Vincent White says dates for a webinar series exploring enhancements to the Safety Measurement System will be announced “in the coming months” via the CSA program’s Prioritization Preview website. The preview website enables motor carriers to view how data would appear under the changes.

The agency has not yet announced a launch date for the revamped SMS website.