This Editorial appears in the Aug. 6 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today. We’re glad to see that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is moving to improve some portions of its Compliance, Safety, Accountability program that are seriously flawed.
And we’re pleased that the agency has solicited comments from interested parties before it considers implementing any of these new changes.
However, we are very much concerned about the agency’s plans to modify the provisions of CSA in regards to hazardous materials shipments. A story on the front page of this week’s issue shows perfectly why FMCSA needs to talk to the industry before implementing perhaps well-intentioned, but flawed, changes.
A look at the comments from various fleets shows that the agency’s proposed changes would make serious miscreants out of at least some of the safest, best-run carriers in North America.
ATA released a survey that showed that several fleets with excellent scores in most of the categories measured by CSA would fall into the nether regions in their handling of hazardous materials.
It appears that the problem largely centers on large fleets that handle a limited amount of hazardous materials. Apparently a few poor inspections or incidents lead to an unsatisfactory hazmat score, which calls into question the safety of a fleet’s entire operation.
As ATA said in its filing with FMCSA, the hazmat changes as proposed assign “high [poor] scores to many reputable, safe motor carriers with laudable crash rates and low scores in all other categories.”
The federation said this result shows how important it is that FMCSA test out its proposed changes in the real world. The fleets were reacting to the scores they would receive if the hazmat rules were implemented.
The agency had invited interested parties to respond to its proposed changes by July 30, and about 80 companies and groups did, with many of them focusing on the hazmat rules.
As ATA told FMCSA, “While compelling fleets to improve compliance with hazmat regulations is important, the more pressing need — and the goal of CSA — is to identify fleets with a greater risk of crash involvement and to change their behavior. Doing so would undoubtedly be a more appropriate and efficient use of the system.”
Unfortunately, the agency’s proposed fixes for the hazmat scoring won’t make our highways safer, but will instead cause the agency to focus on some of the safest fleets on our roads.
