Sen. John Thune to Introduce CSA Reform Legislation Soon
WASHINGTON — Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) soon will unveil legislation that would reform the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program, the senator told Transport Topics.
“We need to take another look at the data inputs, how accident fault is used, and whether there might be a better way to develop a safety partnership,” Thune said March 16. “Each element of the bill I hope to introduce soon is designed to improve safety while enhancing the regulator-industry relationship.”
The legislation would establish market-driven, voluntary investment in safety technology and practices. Doing so, the senator explained, would encourage drivers to complete more thorough pre-trip inspections and address violations quickly without having to worry about being penalized for problems that may occur while driving.
The chairman, noting a recent Government Accountability Office report, added that CSA's analysis “does little to improve safety but has significant economic impacts.” The Commerce panel has jurisdiction over truck safety programs.
At a Senate hearing this month, Susan Fleming, GAO’s director of infrastructure issues, testified that FMCSA has serious challenges in its reliability of CSA’s safety measurement system in predicting carrier crashes and determining the prevalence of so-called chameleon carriers. Those carriers are firms that dissolve and reform under a new name to avoid federal monitoring.
According to GAO, the CSA program oversees carriers' safety performance by relying on roadside inspections and crash investigations. It also issues violations when inspectors find instances of noncompliance with safety regulations. CSA provides the agency, state authorities and industry with data about carriers' performance on the road.
Check out our in-depth interview with Chairman Thune in the March 23 edition of Transport Topics.
