Federal regulators have bowed to anti-truck groups and unfairly called into question the integrity of police accident reports by delaying development of a process that could remove unpreventable crashes from carriers’ safety records, American Trucking Associations officials said Tuesday.
ATA said it had “serious concerns” over a recent Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration decision to further study its plans for its Compliance, Safety, Accountability program’s crash accountability program.
FMCSA had planned to announce details this month of a process that would have allowed a review of accident reports to determine crash accountability and remove non-preventable crashes from carriers’ CSA profiles.
In a March 8 closed meeting, FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro told trucking and busing trade group executives that she was slowing down the process after some advocacy groups had expressed concerns over the reliability of police reports as a sole determinant of blame in a motor vehicle crash.
“With FMCSA moving ahead with its CSA carrier oversight system, it is more important than ever that the agency uses not only the best data, but also common sense to ensure it is targeting the right carriers and drivers for oversight,” ATA President Bill Graves said in a statement.
An FMCSA spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment by press time. Earlier this month, the agency said it was reviewing several critical areas that require further study.
