The government’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program needs changes in order to be better able to achieve its stated goals, a trucking industry official representing American Trucking Associations told a congressional panel Thursday.
While ATA “has been supportive of the objective of CSA, to reduce commercial motor vehicle crashes, injuries and fatalities, since the program’s inception [ATA has had] significant concerns with [CSA] in its current form,” said Scott Mugno, vice president of safety for FedEx Corp.’s Ground unit.
Mugno, testifying before the House Transportation Committee’s highway subcommittee, cited issues in data weakness that prevent the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from having enough information to properly evaluate carriers.
He also said that methodology issues that count all crashes, regardless of preventability, against a carrier as among the most significant issues with the CSA program.
Fleets earlier this summer told FMCSA in written comments that the CSA system did not accurately portray carriers’ safety records, while noting that shippers were increasingly scrutinizing CSA scores.