Updated:
11/5/2009 7:00:00 AM Buy a Digital Copy of Transport Topics
Opinion: CSA 2010: A Good First Step, But . . .
By Rob Abbott
Vice President of Safety and Compliance
TransForce Inc.
This Opinion piece appears in the Nov. 2 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
For more than a decade, the trucking industry has called for an overhaul of the Department of Transportation’s safety fitness measurement and rating systems. Fortunately, DOT heard these calls and soon will implement its new system — Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010. CSA 2010’s measurement component will be rolled out in July 2010; the rating component will be implemented after a future rulemaking process is completed.
Currently being tested in several states, the system uses data from roadside inspections, crashes and on-site compliance reviews to continuously monitor and measure each carrier’s safety performance in seven key safety-related areas, e.g., vehicle maintenance, hours of service and drug/alcohol testing.
If a motor carrier is found to be deficient when compared with like-sized carriers in any area, DOT will “intervene” with the carrier in one or more of the following ways:
• Send a warning letter.
• Target the carrier for additional roadside inspections.
• Conduct an off-site review of requested records sent to a local DOT office.
size=4>• Conduct an on-site review.
Carriers that are continually deficient will face progressive interventions.
For the most part, CSA will be a welcome change from the current rating process, because:
• It will be primarily (though not entirely) performance-based — driven by data generated following roadside inspections and crashes. The current system focuses heavily on compliance with paperwork requirements.
• It will continuously reflect each carrier’s current safety posture, based on updated data measurements. The current system posts a safety rating that may reflect the result of a carrier’s audit conducted more than a decade ago.
• It will make DOT’s investigators more efficient; they will conduct “surgical” interventions to evaluate only those parts of a carrier’s operation thought to be deficient. As a result, they will have time to reach more
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