Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/698304
Logbook 16 | Overdrive | July 2016 New analysis indicates that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's proposal to revamp the way it determines carriers' fitness to operate through the Compliance, Safety, Ac- countability program could be seriously flawed. The analysis of the January-published pro- posal applies its terms to a sample of carriers in 2011. The conclusions are based on numbers obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request made by the Alliance for Safe, Efficient and Competitive Truck Transportation. It shows that 56 percent of the carriers that would have been deemed Unfit in 2011 under FMCSA's Safe- ty Fitness Determination rule, and that remained in business for at least the next year, recorded zero crashes in those 12 months. Perhaps even more alarming for small carriers and own- er-operators, ASECTT's analysis shows that among carriers with five or fewer trucks that would have been flagged Unfit, 76 percent recorded no crashes in the succeeding 12 months. Consulting group TransAdvise performed the analysis for ASECTT and a coalition of other carrier trade associations and sub- mitted it during the SFD rule's comment period. The rule's heavy use of data from the CSA Safety Measurement System's BASICs violates both feder- al law and common sense, industry groups argue. Leg- islation has been presented in the U.S. House to block FMCSA from continuing to work on the rule pending an overhaul of CSA. The SFD rule would do away with the agency's Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory and Conditional ratings currently made during on- site compliance reviews and replace them with a simple Unfit designation; all other carriers would be presumed fit to operate. The rule also would change the way the agency can assign an Unfit rating, allowing it to incorporate roadside inspection and violation data rather than rely on an on-site review. Carriers failing two SMS BASICs would get an auto- matic Unfit. Carriers failing one would be flagged for an investigation. TransAdvise focused on the 262 carriers (of the original 382 that would have been deemed Unfit in 2011) failing two BASICs and that would have re- ceived an immediate Unfit determination under the proposed SFD rule. – James Jaillet CSA change misses crash connection 'UNFIT' CARRIERS HAD SAFE PERFORMANCE 2 crashes 7% 3 crashes 6% 4+ crashes 11% 1 crash 23% No crashes 53% Of all carriers that would have received an Unfit determination based on a 2011 application of the SFD rule, 56 percent recorded no crashes in the next 12 months. Also, 53 percent of carriers that would have been deemed Unfit based on CSA BASIC scores (roadside data) alone, without a subsequent investigation, recorded no crashes in the next 12 months, as this chart shows. Fleet ordered to pay driver $276,000 after firing The U.S. Department of Labor ordered a Cherry Hill, N.J.-based trucking company to pay one of its former drivers $276,000 in back wages and damages after the carrier fired the truck operator for refusing to deliver a load due to concerns of violating hours of service regulations, according to DOL's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. NFI Interactive was found to have violated federal anti-retaliation provisions set by the federal Surface Transportation Assistance Act for firing the trucker in 2012. NFI has the option to appeal the OSHA order and take the case to court. NFI fired the driver in August 2012, the day after he refused to take a load of bottled water to its intended desti- nation. OSHA says that due to delays and concern over hours of service, the driver opted to deliver the load to a closer customer facility, against his car- rier's wishes. A second NFI driver then picked up the load and delivered it. – Overdrive staff TransAdvise