Senior Reporter
FMCSA Proposes Changes to Scoring System For Motor Carriers, Seeks Public Feedback
This story appears in the Oct. 10 print edition of Transport Topics.
Federal trucking regulators are previewing proposals that would modify a program that measures the safety performance of motor carriers on the nation’s highways.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced the changes to its Safety Measurement System on Oct. 5, and the agency is seeking public feedback for the next two months before deciding whether to adopt the proposed changes.
SMS is part of FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability performance scoring program, and it is used to determine safety concerns with carriers.
FMCSA also increased the number of crashes required to determine a percentile to three from two and assigned percentiles to carriers with an inspection violation in the past year. The percentiles are determined by calculations under the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories, or BASIC, which are assessed by SMS.
Other changes include altering certain SMS thresholds, reclassifying violations for operating while out of service and increasing the maximum vehicle miles traveled to better reflect the operations of high-utilization carriers. Also, the changes call for enhancements to the hazardous materials compliance under BASIC.
The proposals are meant to help the agency identify motor carriers that pose safety risks, prioritize investigative resources, accurately account for carriers driving on roadways and recognize hazardous materials compliance issues, the agency explained.
“FMCSA is committed to continually improving SMS methodology in response to new data,” said Monica Lanos, transportation specialist at FMCSA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance in a video explaining the proposed changes.
The public has until Dec. 3 to share its views about the proposals. In the meantime, FMCSA has scheduled question-and-answer webinars on Oct. 12 at 10 a.m., Oct. 13 at 2 p.m., Oct. 18 at 3 p.m. and Oct. 20 at 11 a.m. All times are Eastern.
