In our continued monitoring of the federal government’s introduction of its new safety measuring standards of Complaince, Safety, Accountablity (CSA 2010) upon the trucking industry, the latest news is the revelation of how truck drivers are being tracked under the new system as opposed to SafeStats, the old school version. SafeStats measured trucking safety under three categories (the three Safety Evaluation Areas, or “SEAs”) whereas the new CSA 2010 analyzes seven different issues, or the its Behavioral Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (“BASIC”).
A study performed by TransCore’s CarrierWatch of approximately 166,000 for-hire interstate trucking companies has just been released (read the entire report, or white paper, here), using the data provided in December 2010 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Among its findings:
- truckers can get CSA Alerts although their CSA scores are good;
- more truckers are getting CSA Alerts than those that got ‘deficient’ ratings under the old SafeStat measuring system;
- there is no national cohesion in the CSA results, the BASIC scores as well as the number of CSA Alerts different, state by state; and
- Fatigued Driving, representing HOS violations,was the most common failure, with13% of freight carriers receiving an alert in that category.
Bringing the study’s results home, how did Illinois and Indiana fare? Not too well.
According to the new report, both Illinois and Indiana were among the eight Midwestern states receiving the most CSA Alerts for Unsafe Driving. Moreover, Indiana was one of only five states across the country to get at least 50% more CSA Alerts than SafeStat deficiencies. In other words, Indiana safety alerts jumped up over half again from the old school tracking system. That’s a big jump.
Be careful out there – especially when you are sharing the roadway with a commercial truck, 18-wheeler, big rig, tractor-trailer, or semi.
