FMCSA Defends the new Safety Act

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The trucking industry’s top regulator says her agency is moving forward as planned with a long-awaited safety program, even as lawmakers and trucking representatives suggested the agency should focus more on getting the program right than on rolling it out on time.

Noting that a field test in nine states wraps up this month, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Anne Ferro on Tuesday told a House panel that preliminary findings show a 35 percent increase in investigations under Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, meaning more carriers are being reached, and with greater efficiency.
 Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, CSA 2010, is a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) initiative to improve large truck and bus safety and ultimately reduce commercial motor vehicle (CMV)-related crashes, injuries and fatalities. It introduces a new enforcement and compliance model that allows FMCSA and its State partners to contact a larger number of carriers earlier in order to address safety problems before crashes occur. When the program is fully rolled out by the end of 2010, FMCSA will have a new nationwide system for making the roads safer for motor carriers and the public alike
The roll-out for CSA 2010 officially began in April with the carrier data preview, Ferro explained. As previously announced, the actual safety measurement system — in which carriers will be compared to industry peers —will be previewed in late August, followed by full public availability at the end of the year. Remaining components — warning letters, the intervention process and the new fitness determination rule — will continue to the end of fiscal year 2011, she added.


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