CVSA Joins Chorus Seeking Removal of CSA Scores

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has joined the call with a broad coalition of motor carriers for Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to remove from public view carriers’ online Compliance, Safety, Accountability program Safety Measurement System scores.

CVSA Executive Director Stephen Keppler called the request to take down public scores “a matter of tremendous importance to commercial motor vehicle law enforcement.”

Keppler called the CSA program a good program with tremendous potential that has raised the trucking industry’s level of safety awareness.

However, CVSA “recognizes and appreciates” concerns raised by motor carriers that include uneven enforcement practices among state law enforcement and the relationship between carriers’ safety scores and crash risk, Keppler said in a Nov. 14 letter to Foxx.

“Since the collective crash rates of fleets with SMS scores above threshold are higher than those below, the SMS is useful as an enforcement prioritization tool,” the letter said. “On the other hand, since the SMS scores are a poor indicator of an individual fleet’s propensity to be involved in a future crash, their utility in providing the public with information about fleets’ safety performance is limited.”

In August, 10 vehicle trade associations, including American Trucking Associations, petitioned Foxx to stop posting the scores for public view.

The group cited a February Government Accountability Office report that found significant statistical problems with SMS scoring.