Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/522363
40 | Overdrive | June 2015 T ruck inspection numbers rose nearly 20 percent between 2011 and 2013, the early years of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Compliance, Safety, Accountability program. Then, due to various factors, that total fell by close to 10 percent last year. Large regional disparities in the behavior of state truck enforcement departments that do the inspections and write the violations have continued, though some states have changed their inspection and violation priorities. These changes are highlighted in Overdrive's latest update to its ongoing CSA's Data Trail analysis. In addition to what's shown in these pages, there is much more detail at OverdriveOnline. com/CSA. One possible factor in the nationwide decline in inspections is the growing movement against CSA within the industry and even some areas of law enforcement. Overdrive readers are no exception. When they were asked in spring 2014 whether public CSA Safety Measure- ment System category "scores" should be pulled from public view, "yes" answers accounted for 68 percent of responses. Since then, there have been widespread investigations, in venues ranging from these pages to Congress, of the program's inequities. In reader polling this spring, more than 80 percent of readers now say "yes" to pulling back the program's reins. Overall inspections fell in 2014 as industry and law enforcement stepped up the push to revamp the CSA program. Meanwhile, state enforcement intensity continues to vary widely, with violations continuing to tilt toward on-highway infractions and hours. BY TODD DILLS Decreasing inspections