Editorial: Toward Crash Accountability

There’s no denying that finding the best, most accurate way to determine whether a motor carrier should be deemed accountable for a crash is a difficult and complicated task.

Witnesses, participants and investigators all have their versions of what happened, what caused it to happen and what might have been done to avoid the accident.

At some point, however, the people at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration must make a decision, and one that could have profound consequences for the trucking industry.

FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro, who was on the verge of setting out a procedure formalizing how the government would determine crash causation just a few months ago, suddenly pulled back, saying that more study was needed. She said she wanted to make sure that the agency gets it right this time and that its still emerging safety program, CSA, maintains credibility with everyone affected by highway safety.

It may help FMCSA to take a look at how Canada does this.

As we report in this week’s Transport Topics, Canada’s system uses a standardized accident reporting form that all police departments use for reporting crashes. The form collects information on a broad array of relevant factors, with the investigating officer’s determination of whether the accident was preventable.

When that information is entered into a motor carrier’s profile, and if there is no indication that the carrier was at fault, the accident is not assigned points against the fleet. Contrast that with FMCSA’s method, which does not distinguish between crashes for which the carrier has responsibility and those that are unavoidable.

As one safety manager for a Canadian carrier said, the system is designed “so we don’t get lumped into one big pile, whether you’re at fault or not.”

And this is exactly what happens here in some cases. As we’ve written, several U.S. carriers have told us about having their safety ratings lowered after crashes where their drivers were legally parked and were run into by out-of-control automobile drivers, or were struck head-on by cars traveling the wrong way on highways.

We’re not sure that the Canadian method would work here, but based on what several Canadian officials and fleet executives told us, FMCSA surely needs to examine that system — and quickly.