E-Logs, CSA Make List Of FMCSA’s Priorities
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s top five priorities into early 2016 include a new safety-fitness rating process for carriers, a final rule on electronic logging devices and an adjustment for the CSA scoring system.
Scott Darling, the agency’s acting administrator, reminded staff in a letter Sept. 15 about the agency’s most pressing tasks. The letter mentioned using new software as part of inspection modernization and implementing a revamped process for the Unified Registration System.
“I know we remain committed to saving lives by working toward zero crash fatalities involving large trucks and buses,” Darling wrote.
FMCSA faces a heavy regulatory workload, some of it ordered by Congress, and there were some policy issues that did not get on Darling’s list.
He also must answer questions from a Senate committee before his nomination to become the agency’s permanent administrator can receive a vote by the full chamber.
Electronic logging devices, or ELDs, are used to record driver hours of service by hooking the digital log directly to engine and GPS data, thereby eliminating paper logs. The final rule ordering their mandatory usage “is being reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget and is scheduled to be out later this year,” Darling said. “Although we cannot discuss the provisions of a final rule before it is made public, I can say that the rule is designed to benefit everyone.”
The safety fitness-determination proposal is a long-awaited update to the current ratings of satisfactory, conditional or unsatisfactory, which are based on the old system of compliance reports. The ratings for trucking and bus companies are supposed to switch to assessments based on FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.
Darling referred to the upcoming CSA effort as Phase 3 and said it will include off-site investigations and cooperative safety plans.
He also said his people “will be fine-tuning the [Safety Measurement System] algorithm to better identify carriers for investigation so that we can intervene more quickly with those found to be at greatest risk.”
Trucking executives have been critical of the SMS scores, and government auditors and university researchers also have cast doubt on their usefulness.
The SMS segment of CSA is fed data from roadside safety inspections. Critics charge that SMS conclusions do not measure the most critical aspects of operational safety.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association was receptive to Darling’s list but also was cautious.
“We look forward to seeing all the specifics on everything he has outlined. Like they say, the devil is in the details,” OOIDA spokeswoman Norita Taylor said.
“Acting Administrator Darling has prioritized FMCSA’s work, he’s communicating the status of those initiatives with his team, and he’s clearly focused on publishing the electronic logging device rule as soon as OMB finishes its review,” said Dave Osiecki, chief of national advocacy for American Trucking Associations.
Darling was nominated by President Obama to succeed Anne Ferro at FMCSA on Aug. 5. To be formally sworn in he must be confirmed by the Senate, but a date for his nomination hearing has not been set.
Important issues not covered in Darling’s letter were listed in a Sept. 15 regulatory update from the Department of Transportation:
• A proposal on entry-level driver training that is expected from OMB on Nov. 6, with publication in the Federal Register expected Nov. 16. The DOT report also said Secretary Anthony Foxx’s office has not yet sent the proposal to OMB, a part of the White House.
• A final rule on a drug-and-alcohol clearinghouse for commercial drivers, and the DOT report estimates it will go to Foxx’s office by Oct. 21 and then to OMB by Nov. 24. Publication is not expected until March 2.
• A proposal for a heavy-vehicle speed-limiter rule. That was supposed to clear OMB on Sept. 17 and then be published Sept. 21, DOT said.
