Letters: CSA Scores, Trucking & Racism

These Letters to the Editor appear in the June 25 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

CSA Scores

In connection with recent requests by American Trucking Associations and others to release the detailed study information used to develop the Compliance, Safety, Accountability scoring system for carriers, I have come across a front-page article in the San Antonio Express-News dated June 12 that should be interesting for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — creator of the CSA program — to explain.

By way of background, the trucking industry has requested that the FMCSA release study information relating to violations and crash information used in determining the weighting of carrier CSA scores and the assignment of fault for accidents used in those scores.

As was stated in a June 4 Transport Topics editorial — “Toward Crash Accountability”  — FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro pulled back from her effort to factor into an already complex equation the assignment of fault for auto vs. big truck accidents. But it appears the information must be convincing enough for FMCSA Southern Services Director Joel Hiatt to make the following statement in the Express-News article:

“About 90% of the commercial motor vehicle crashes that are fatal are caused by drivers who improperly changed lanes, were speeding or were otherwise driving aggressively, FMCSA Director Joel Hiatt said.”

I do not think Hiatt or the writer of the Express-News article were referring to truck drivers as aggressive drivers making improper lane changes and speeding but rather automobile drivers — as the article went on to clarify.

The article, which was titled “Police Are on the Prowl for Aggressive Drivers; Drivers Urged to Play It Safe Around Trucks,” was quite to the point that the aggressive drivers were, in fact, automobile drivers.

The program in San Antonio was funded by the FMCSA over the past two years in an effort to reduce dangerous driving habits on heavily traveled commercial truck lanes in the San Antonio area.

It is to be hoped that, in the near future, only “at-fault accidents” will be used in determining real crash and accident scores and not reflect badly on truckers who are not at fault in a very high percentage of accidents.

Dennis Beierle

Chief Financial Officer

Southwestern Motor Transport Inc.

San Antonio

Trucking and Racism

I’m a professional, 48-states, over-the-road driver who has worked for a number of large and small diversified carriers. I love driving so much that I have encouraged the male and female members of my family to consider the trucking industry as a career because it has a wide range of entry-level positions available for those who are willing to become Commercial Driver License holders.

What repulses them the most is upward mobility — the lack of African-Americans they see holding down front office and management positions in this highly race-conscious industry.

African-American managers are disproportionate to their numerical makeup of the trucking industry driver workforce, and that has to change.

Company officials who complain of a severe driver shortage can do three things to help change that scenario and the negative perception of truckers in general:

• First, hire more African-American managers and utilize their abilities to canvass the streets, schools and inner-city communities to recruit more drivers.

• Second, institute across-the-board pay raises for all drivers to keep pace with cost-of-living expenses.

• Third, encourage government officials to construct more trucker-friendly highways and build bigger rest areas and truck stops with microwave ovens and healthy food items to increase capacity and parking spaces.

The trucking industry needs to enact an aggressive affirmative-action program to help level the playing field, reform its image and attract more drivers and public support for the long haul.

I’m a representative of African-American truckers who have been fighting on the front line for higher pay and better working conditions for all drivers — and I approve this message.

Shakir Muhammad

Company Driver

Alexandria, Va.