DOT Report Corroborates GAO Study on Need for Improvement of CSA Data

This story appears in the March 17 print edition of Transport Topics.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has improved the statistical foundation of its Compliance, Safety, Accountability program but still has a significant amount of work to do to complete the process, according to an inspector general’s report.

The CSA program is more than 3 years old, and the March 5 audit from within the Department of Transportation made six recommendations to improve the procedure for ensuring data quality.

“FMCSA has made progress in moving toward a more data-driven, risk-based approach to oversight of the motor carrier industry,” the report said. “More action is needed in key areas, including improving census data and completing its rollout of CSA enforcement interventions.”

FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro said in the report that she concurred with the six findings and offered “target action dates” ranging from March through July of this year.

Critics said patching CSA, which is used for targeting truck and bus safety actions, could take longer.

CSA evaluates trucking companies and drivers in six Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) of on-road performance. FMCSA uses the BASIC scores to target carriers and drivers for safety interventions.

The program has been controversial within trucking, and the inspector general audit is the second major report this year on the reliability of data gathering and analysis. In February, the Government Accountability Office, a congressional agency, issued a report critical of the Safety Measurement System of CSA.

The latest report, issued by Joseph Comé, an assistant inspector general, also focused on the Safety Measurement System.

“FMCSA has not fully implemented the CSA enforcement-intervention process nationwide. Only 10 states had fully implemented CSA enforcement interventions at the time of our report, and FMCSA provided no date when it expects to complete implementation at all states. The remaining 41 states, including the District of Columbia, are awaiting delivery of and training on the new software required to assess and monitor the interventions,” the Comé report said.

When the Obama administration released its fiscal 2015 budget earlier this month, it called for a 14.3% increase for FMCSA, including $41 million for “modernized information technology architecture.”

The report said FMCSA should update its census of motor carriers, and Ferro said her agency has started to do so.

The report also said FMCSA should update guidance on DataQs, or challenges by carriers and drivers on the accuracy of a bad inspection report.

Action on the four other recommendations would take place in May or June, Ferro said. Those points cover nationwide implementation of enforcement, database improvement and management.

Rep. Thomas Petri (R-Wis.), chairman of the House subcommittee on highways and transit, said CSA could be a topic in the multiyear highway bill now before Congress.

“The IG’s recommendations are a good start, but I still have concerns about the program, and I have been hearing from constituents about several specific problems that need to be addressed,” Petri said through a spokesman, adding that he would question Ferro on CSA when she appears before his subcommittee March 12.

American Trucking Associations said the report “confirms what industry stakeholders, independent researchers and other government watchdogs have found,” but “expressed disappointment” that it did not go further.

“ATA is disappointed that the IG didn’t take a critical look at the source of literally all CSA data, state enforcement agencies,” said Dave Osiecki, head of national advocacy for the federation.

“While the [state safety data] indicates states are performing better than they have in the past, the IG failed to examine under what circumstances a state might obtain a ‘good’ rating. This is a critical link in CSA data quality that deserves greater attention,” Osiecki said.

CSA was a major point of discussion at Heavy Duty Dialogue, connected with ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council annual meeting last week in Nashville, Tenn.

Dave Manning, president of TCW Inc., said fleets’ CSA scores can be misleading because they are relative to other carriers within the same peer group. He said he doesn’t see a problem with FMCSA using CSA to determine which fleets to audit, but said the scores aren’t ready for public consumption.

“We think it needs to be taken out of the public view until it’s made right,” Manning said.

Aaron Tennant, CEO at Tennant Truck Lines, agreed the score volatility is a problem, but also said CSA has heightened drivers’ attention to safety and compliance issues.

“All of our guys are much more aware today than what they were several years ago of the importance of staying clean,” Tennant said.

Staff Reporter Seth Clevenger contributed to this story from Nashville, Tenn.