The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced it will launch its new program, CSA (Comprehensive Safety Analysis) 2010. This new program is a way for the FMCSA and state enforcement agencies to work together more efficiently to identify and target motor carriers and truck drivers who violate safety regulations and cause dangerous or deadly truck accidents. The system, designed to have several advantages over the current system of enforcement, has been undergoing test implementation in a number of states: Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, and New Jersey.

It is hoped that this new system of recording and sharing crash data and following up with targeted enforcement will lead to further reductions in the number and frequency of truck accidents across the country. The goal is to focus enforcement on the most important aspects of truck operation. Under CSA, these are defined as Behavior Analysis Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs):

• Unsafe Driving
• Fatigued Driving (Hours-of-Service violations)
• Driver Fitness, including training and general health
• Use of drugs or alcohol
• Vehicle Maintenance
• Cargo-Related
• Crash Indicator

These factors are identified by the state-level inspectors, but enforcement is carried out at a Federal and state level, and identified deficiencies are followed up by targeted enforcement. Consider the case of a Maryland truck accident in which a speeding driver performs an improper lane change, causing his improperly secured load to spill, which led to a number of accidents. Under the old system, the focus was on the carrier, who would be cited for fines, but would mostly be treated in the same way as before. If the motor carrier then fired the driver, he could be hired on at a new motor carrier, and any crash he caused in his new position would be linked with the new carrier, not the driver.

Under CSA the data from this Maryland truck accident would be linked to both the driver and the carrier as applicable, and the carrier and driver would be flagged for targeted follow-up. The carrier’s vehicles would undergo increased scrutiny for cargo securement, no matter where in the country the inspection was performed. The driver’s data would remain linked with the driver and would be made available to the driver’s current employer and any future employers.

By linking violations and following up with appropriate, targeted enforcement the system hopes to continue to reduce the frequency of truck accidents nationwide. As a side benefit, the system removes time-consuming comprehensive inspections for motor carriers that follow the rules. This will save resources for the states, the federal government, and for motor carriers. Finally, by identifying dangerous drivers and linking them to their violations, the system provides a powerful evaluation tool for motor carriers to evaluate present and future drivers.

The system is slated for nationwide implementation this summer.