Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/23783
FOR THE RECORD TRUCKING NEWS Last-Minute Wrangling ATA asks for CSA changes but doesn’t join litigation to block implementation lthough the American Trucking Associations is not joining in litigation to block Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, it is asking for further changes before carriers’ rank- ings under the program are made public. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said at press time it didn’t plan to implement the new system until at least Dec. 12 of last month. A Boyd Stephenson, ATA’s manag- er of safety & security operations, noted in a Nov. 29 letter to FMCSA’s CSA program manager that carri- ers’ scores in five of the seven Be- havior Analysis and Safety Improve- ment Categories (BASICs) are set to be visible to the public. “Before the agency chooses to disclose this data, it should ensure that these BASICs FYI Trailer Orders Surge New orders of dry van com- mercial trailers more than doubled in October from the prior year, leading total net orders of commercial trailers to a 33-month high, according to ACT Research Co. Eight of nine trailer categories tracked by the company increased year over year. ACT noted net orders increased 79 percent over last year to 17,126 units. The strong inflow of orders pushed manufacturer back- logs up by more than 5,000 units. NAFTA Surface Trade Increases Surface transportation trade between the United States and Canada and Mexico was 19.3 percent higher in Sep- tember 2010 than in Septem- ber 2009, reaching $68.3 bil- lion, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The value of 12 TRUCKERS NEWS JANUARY 2011 surface trade in September 2010 remained 4.8 percent below the September 2008 level despite the 2009-2010 increase. Freight Posts Gains in October Truck tonnage rose from September to October, the American Trucking Associa- tions says. The measurement also rose when adjusted for seasonal factors. Both increases were less than 1 percent. Year-to-date through October, seasonally adjusted tonnage is up 6.1 percent compared with the same period in 2009. Used Truck Sales Down Used Class 8 commercial vehicle sales volume has slowed in recent months, declining 16 percent month- over-month in October, ACT Research Co. said. ACT also accurately predict crash risk,” Ste- phenson said. “Until FMCSA can confirm that the system accurately identifies un- safe carriers in a category, it is in- appropriate to make carriers’ scores in that category publicly available, as they may erroneously label safe, responsible carriers as unsafe,” ATA said. To improve the link between BASICs scores and crash risk, ATA recommends several steps: • Modify severity weights so that they more accurately reflect crash risk; • Control for risk disparities among “generic” violations (situations where violations of varying de- grees are lumped together); • Ensure industry segments are com- pared against their peers; and • Test the system to ensure that it ac- curately identifies carriers that are unsafe. ATA pointed to a number of vio- lations, mostly in the Cargo-Relat- ed BASIC, where its members have identified severity weights that sig- nificantly exceed crash risk. On the other hand, there are some situa- tions — possession or under the in- fluence of alcohol less than four hours before driving or inadequate brakes for safe stopping, for example — where FMCSA’s severity weight appears too low. ATA noted that in developing its violation severity weightings, FMCSA convened a group of agen- cy and state enforcement officials to examine the severity weights continued on page 70 NEWS BRIEFS reported the average price for units sold increased 4 percent month-over-month as buyers focused on the limited supply of low-mileage vehicles available. DOT Launches Distracted Driving Video The U.S. DOT has launched “Faces of Distracted Driv- ing” at www.distraction.gov/ faces, an online video series exploring the consequences continued on page 74