Editorial: More Critics of CSA

We welcome the U.S. Department of Transportation’s announced independent review of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the legislative proposal from Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), which would bring closer oversight of FMCSA.

For some time now we have said that FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability program is a fine idea, but one that is partially lacking in terms of implementation. Trucking and bus companies should be responsible for their safety performance, and laggards should be prodded to do better — even if it means that incompetent or indifferent carriers are shut down.

While easy to say, we admit it’s very difficult to do properly.

FMCSA has created a very complicated system that generates and analyzes a ton of data. We think CSA has flaws, and DOT’s special report came to a similar conclusion.

“The CSA program has ignited a debate across the industry regarding the appropriate use of safety data. If this debate is not refocused, it will stall the adoption of safety practices that are needed by the industry and expected by the public,” said the report, which was commissioned by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

Discussion by the independent review panel is similar to what has been said by the Government Accountability Office, the National Transportation Safety Board, DOT’s Inspector General and university researchers. FMCSA needs to do better at determining which events either cause accidents or correlate very closely with them.

For example, a form-and-manner violation for logging driver hours is indeed a violation of rules, but it is highly unlikely to contribute to an accident in the way that driving 16 hours in a single day would do.

Dave Osiecki, chief of national advocacy for American Trucking Associations, said the federation was pleased with the report.

As for Fischer, the Nebraska Republican filed a bill that would require FMCSA to report to Congress every five years on its regulations, guidance and enforcement (see story, p. 4).

FMCSA officials are generally good people who work hard and want to keep the nation’s roads safe. To the extent that CSA is not working well, the reason is not malfeasance but the inherent difficulty in creating a workable system for a nationwide network of carriers.

We think that Fischer’s bill would provide needed congressional oversight and help the agency better focus its attention. Just as corporations have boards of directors, congressional committees could do a better job providing a similar service for FMCSA.