By Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor
The trucking industry and other interest groups are getting more say in how the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration shapes its signature CSA safety enforcement program.
At the first meeting of a new CSA advisory panel yesterday, the agency spelled out the help it needs, calling for ideas and suggestions on how to solve such long-standing issues as public access to data, improvements in the data correction system and whether or not carriers should get credit for safety technology.
The panel is a subcommittee of the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee, a group of 19 officials from industry, the enforcement community and labor and safety advocacy groups that provides counsel to FMCSA on a variety of issues.
David Parker, senior counsel at Great West Casualty, is chairman of the committee and also will chair the CSA Subcommittee.
The shape and size of the subcommittee is not yet clear. At yesterday’s meeting in Alexandria, Va., Parker said he believes shippers, brokers, equipment suppliers and others should be involved in the CSA discussions, in addition to interested members of the Advisory Committee. He expects these issues to be resolved by the time of the subcommittee’s first meeting in October.
The subcommittee will have a daunting agenda. Keying off on a list presented by the agency, the MCSAC members discussed a broad range of issues they hope to cover, many of which have been in play ever since CSA got under way two years ago.
What FMCSA Wants
Bill Quade, associate administrator for enforcement at FMCSA, outlined the agency’s wish list.
It wants advice on how to handle public display of CSA data and messaging, on the thresholds it has established to trigger intervention by enforcement officials, and on whether or not the safety data should take a carrier’s area of operation into account.
Also on the agency’s agenda: what to do about shortcomings in the DataQs system for correcting errors, particularly with respect to handling violations that have been dismissed by a court.
In addition, the agency asked how it accounts for roadside screening versus a full inspection in the database, and should carriers get credit for using safety technologies such as lane departure warning.
And, should Safety Measurement System data be segmented by the type of operation, such as truckload, less-than-truckload, private carriage, flatbed, rural or urban?
What MCSAC Wants
To this the MCSAC members added a considerable list of their own.
They want to determine if CSA is working as it is supposed to, perhaps by engaging a third party to do an analysis.
They question whether the CSA system should focus on reducing the number of crashes, or on the severity of crashes.
Committee members applauded the agency’s effort to roll out CSA to the entire community, but indicated that they would look for ways to improve communications with small carriers.
Other issues: how to lessen disparities in enforcement by the states, and find data that ties specific safety violations to crash risk.
Committee member Danny Schnautz of Clark Freight Lines put on the agenda the issue of shippers using CSA data as a carrier selection tool.
“Among shippers and brokers the (SMS) score is viewed as the Holy Grail,” he said. Despite the warnings on the CSA web site about the uses of the data, “the message is not getting through to them.”
CSA Improvements
The committee members took time to enumerate the ways CSA has benefited truck safety. They noted that the system is dispensing more data and giving the agency the ability to reach more carriers without a dramatic increase in resources.
It is better than the earlier system, SafeStat, in getting at the worst offenders, and it has led to the start of a cultural change in the industry by forcing carriers to focus on the details of safety management.
The agency already is planning another round of improvements to follow on those it posted last Friday.
It will consider modifying roadside violation severity weights, and changing the way it uses vehicle miles in determining scores for the Crash and Unsafe Driving categories of CSA. In addition, it will consider adjusting safety event groupings in all of the categories.
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4/17/2012 – Canada Aligns GHG Emissions Regs with U.S.
Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent announced Canada’s alignment with the U.S. regulations for heavy-duty vehicle and engine greenhouse gas emissions for 2014 and later….
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4/17/2012 – N.J. Owner-Operators Need IRS Determination for Non-Employee Status
UPDATED — A number of New Jersey fleets have discovered the hard way — with fines to the tune of $800,000 — that the New Jersey Department of Labor now requires owner-operators to first prove that the Internal Revenue Service already deemed them independent contractors before the state will allow an employee exemption….
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4/16/2012 – California Court Says Employers Must Offer 30-Minute Meal Breaks
California trucking companies will be required to give drivers a 30-minute meal period within the first five hours of driving, according to the California Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Brinker v. Superior Court. …
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4/13/2012 – Truck Dealer of the Year Nominee Educates Nebraska Rep. on Natural Gas
U.S. Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., visited Omaha Truck Centers, owned by dealer Trey Mytty, to learn more about natural gas in the commercial vehicle industry….
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4/13/2012 – FMCSA Wants to Study Overweight Trucks’ Connection to Safety
The DOT wants to better understand the safety performance of overweight vehicles — both permitted and illegally overloaded — so it is looking for state agencies to work with in a study of the issue….
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4/13/2012 – Study Finds Few Effects from Diesel Exhaust from EPA-07 Engines
The first results of what is said to be the most comprehensive study ever undertaken of the health effects of exposure to new technology diesel engines has found no evidence of gene-damaging effects in the animals studied, and only a few mild effects on the lungs, according to a report issued by the Health Effects Institute….
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4/10/2012 – FMCSA Shuts Down JA Transportation
The U.S. DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration declared New Jersey-based JA Transportation Inc. an imminent hazard to public safety, and ordered the trucking company to shut down its operations….
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4/9/2012 – New Rule for Medical Examiners Nearing Publication
A final rule to establish a National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners is close to publication.
The rule was cleared last week by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the last stage before publication in the Federal Register….
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4/5/2012 – Three Oregon Ports of Entry to Switch to Phone-based Services
The Oregon Motor Carrier Transportation Division is closing its registration offices at three ports of entry and replacing over-the-counter services with phones and fax machines truck drivers can use for registration and over-dimension permit services….
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3/30/2012 – Nasstrac Joins HOS Legal Battle
Nasstrac, the National Shippers Strategic Transportation Council, has joined in the legal efforts to challenge a lawsuit regarding reduced daily driving hours for truckers, reports the Journal of Commerce….
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3/30/2012 – No Highway Bill, So Congress Extends Program for 90 Days
Congress yesterday passed a 90-day extension of the federal highway program, the ninth extension since the program formally expired in October 2009….
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3/28/2012 – CSA Changes Available for Review
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is previewing a half-dozen important changes it plans to make in the CSA safety enforcement system.
In the announcement in yesterday’s Federal Register, the agency also discussed a controversial decision it recently made to back away from plans to clarify crash accountability data in CSA….
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3/27/2012 – FMCSA Urged to Step Up Effort Against Reincarnated Carriers
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration could step up its effort to catch reincarnated carriers by making better use of the data it has, according to the Government Accountability Office….
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3/26/2012 – FMCSA Officials Get Input on EOBRs at Mid-America Trucking Show
LOUISVILLE, KY — Officials with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration got an earful Friday about a number of issues relating to hours of service, electronic onboard recorders, and how trucking companies use EOBRs and other in-cab technologies to harass drivers….
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3/22/2012 – House Will Push Highway Extension
The House, unable to resolve internal differences regarding its five-year, $260 billion highway bill and opposed to the Senate’s two-year, $109 billion measure, is going to push for a three-month extension of the current program….
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3/22/2012 – Cummins to Have 2014-compliant Engines in Service by 2013
LOUISVILLE, KY — Cummins Inc. says it will be ready to ship its full line-up 2014-compliant heavy-duty diesel and natural gas engines a full year ahead of deadline, and they’ll feature improved reliability and fuel economy….
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3/21/2012 – ATA: Common Sense Must Govern CSA Crash Accountability Decisions
American Trucking Associations‘ leaders expressed serious concern over the recent decision by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to continue to count every truck-involved crash in CSA scores, including those the truck driver could not have prevented….
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3/16/2012 – ATA, TCA File Issue Statements with Court in HOS Challenge
The American Trucking Associations and the Truckload Carriers Association each filed motions to intervene with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in litigation challenging the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s recently published hours-of-service regulations….
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3/15/2012 – Dealer Plans to Participate in New Wisconsin Job-Training Program
Peterbilt dealer JX Enterprises hosted Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as he signed Assembly Bill 450, popularly known as Wisconsin Wins, into law this week….
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3/15/2012 – Senate Passes Highway Bill, 74-22
In an unusual display of bipartisanship, the Senate passed a two-year, $109 billion highway bill by a vote of 74 to 22.
All of the Senate’s Democrats and half of its Republicans voted for the bill….
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3/14/2012 – Senate Close to Passing Highway Bill
The Senate is close to passing a two-year, $109 billion highway bill that could become a model for what the House will do with its transportation legislation.
The bill, called Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), would streamline the federal transportation program, accelerate project delivery, eliminate earmarks, increase financing resources and fund improvements in freight distribution….
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3/12/2012 – FMCSA Stops Plan to Determine Accountability in CSA Crash Data
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last week reversed course on a long-planned correction in its CSA safety enforcement system.
The agency was close to proposing a way for carriers to get an assessment of fault in the crashes used to determine their safety rating, but on Thursday Anne Ferro told industry representatives that the agency will not go ahead after all….
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3/9/2012 – House May Default to Senate’s Highway Bill
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) yesterday gave the clearest indication yet that Congress will go with a short-term highway bill like the one the Senate is close to passing.
“The current plan is to see what the Senate can produce…
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3/9/2012 – ATD Study: EPA Grossly Underestimated Emissions Systems Costs
A report released yesterday by The National Automobile Dealers Association and American Truck Dealers questions the Environmental Protection Agency’s cost analysis of 2004-2010 emissions control mandates. Data collected by ATD shows EPA’s cost estimates were off by a factor of between two and five….
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3/8/2012 – Obama Visits DTNA Truck Plant, Addresses Energy Issues
President Barack Obama toured Daimler Trucks North America‘s Mount Holly, N.C., manufacturing plant Wednesday and spoke on alternative fuel technologies while praising DTNA’s commitment to natural gas….
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3/8/2012 – Volvo Trucks First U.S. Manufacturer to Achieve Dual Energy Certifications
Volvo Trucks‘ New River Valley assembly plant in Dublin, Va., is the first U.S. facility to be certified to the ISO 50001 standards under a pilot program supported by the U.S. Department of Energy….
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3/7/2012 – Obama to Visit North Carolina Daimler Trucks Plant
President Obama will visit a Daimler Trucks North America plant in North Carolina today, where he’s expected to tout the economy, job growth and fuel-efficiency standards….
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3/2/2012 – New Jersey Bill Would Make Owner-Operators Employees
A proposed New Jersey bill, A1578/S1450, dubbed the “Truck Operator Independent Contractor Act,” seeks to define drayage and parcel delivery owner-operators as employees of the companies they provide services for, rather than independent contractors….
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3/2/2012 – Movement but Not Much Progress on Highway Bill
As the Senate lumbers through debate on its highway bill, and the House considers changes to its approach, the outcome may be a short-term surface transportation program that preserves funding near current levels. …
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