A study examining the safety scoring program used by federal trucking regulators is scheduled to be unveiled June 27, the National Academy of Sciences announced.
The study of the Compliance, Safety, Accountability, or CSA, program is expected to propose certain tweaks to the ratings system, executives with familiarity of the study said.
A panel of a dozen researchers, working on behalf of the academy, have reviewed the quality and accuracy of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s CSA safety measurement system data. Also, researchers analyzed scores violations used in the program’s Behavioral Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories, or BASICs.
The FAST Act highway law of 2015 required the U.S. Department of Transportation to connect with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine for the CSA study. CSA scores were removed from public view soon after the FAST Act’s enactment.
FMCSA collects and analyzes data on about 500,000 interstate freight, 12,000 interstate passenger, and 17,000 intrastate hazardous materials motor carriers, as well as about six million commercial vehicle drivers, and the 160,000 reportable accidents annually.
The data is used to “identify and prioritize compliance and enforcement interventions on those motor carriers presenting the greatest safety risk,” according to the agency’s fiscal 2018 budget estimates.
Relatedly, FMCSA has withdrawn its proposed motor carrier safety fitness determination rule as it awaits the CSA study.
