Senior Reporter
FMCSA Announces Plans for Crash-Accountability Demonstration Program
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on July 11 outlined plans for a two-year demonstration program that would allow certain nonpreventable crashes to be removed from motor carriers’ public and private safety scores.
The policy shift is being proposed after long-standing industry concerns that all crashes currently are being recorded in Compliance, Safety, Accountability program safety scores, whether or not the carrier is at fault.
The demonstration program, which was outlined in two separate Federal Register announcements, was introduced July 12.
FMCSA said the crash accountability process could be generated by a carrier’s request for a data review accompanied by a variety of documentation. That could include proof of a conviction of the party causing the crash, law enforcement reports, insurance reports from all parties involved in the crash and any other relevant information.
The agency said it is seeking comment 60 days after the two announcements are published in the Federal Register, expected this week. FMCSA wants to know what other documentation would be sufficient to allow the agency or a third-party contractor to make a nonpreventable crash determination.
Specifically, FMCSA said the demonstration program would consider allowing the removal of crashes from a carrier’s safety record when a commercial motor vehicle was struck by motorists convicted of driving under the influence, driving in the wrong direction, striking a CMV in the rear or striking a CMV when it was legally stopped.
The agency said the demonstration program also could include requests for data reviews for crashes in which a motor carrier struck an animal and those in which a motorist that struck a CMV was speeding or attempting to commit suicide, as well as crashes due to infrastructure failure.
Under the proposal, when a crash is determined to be not preventable on a driver or carrier’s part, it would be removed from the carrier’s CSA safety measurement system scoring and not used in calculating the Crash Indicator Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Category, or BASIC, percentile.
The Crash Indicator BASIC percentiles are available only to motor carriers who log in to view their own data, as well as to FMCSA and law enforcement users.
When an accident is determined to be preventable, it will still be listed on the agency’s public website with a note that reads, “FMCSA reviewed this crash and determined that it was preventable.”
When a conclusive decision cannot be made by data reviewers, it still will be publicly listed on the agency website with a note that reads, “FMCSA reviewed this crash and could not make a preventability determination based on the evidence provided.”
“ATA hopes this demonstration project is a step toward a more robust and complete system for carriers to dispute and ultimately strike crashes that were not the fault of the commercial driver,” said Bill Graves, former president of American Trucking Associations and now an ATA adviser. “We look forward to monitoring FMCSA’s progress as they advance this important program. By improving crash accountability and data, FMCSA can improve the performance and accuracy of the CSA monitoring system — a goal ATA wholeheartedly supports.”
“This is an issue that the agency has worked on for quite some time,” Joe DeLorenzo, director of FMCSA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance, said in a phone conference earlier this month.
DeLorenzo said the demonstration program is intended to “add meat” to a January 2015 FMCSA study announcement seeking industry comment.
The agency’s plans included suggestions by ATA, DeLorenzo said.
However, he said FMCSA did not agree with ATA’s suggestion that the agency use police reports as the standard of who “was found responsible by law enforcement for the crash.”
“Previous research by the agency showed that police accident reports do not generally provide a clear determination as to the preventability of a crash,” the agency said in its written announcement. “Relying on a conviction related to one of the crash scenarios described ensure the agency will have a clear record on which to base its determination.”
