Motor Carrier Safety Progress Report

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

(as of December 31, 2011)

MCMIS SAFETY OUTCOMES* CY 2009 CY 2010**

CY 2011**

Jan. 1, 2011 – Sep. 30, 2011

CRASHES

● Large Trucks and Buses 118,428 128,747 93,976

Large Trucks 105,526 115,398 84,569

Buses 13,314 13,774 9,719

FATALITIES

● Large Trucks and Buses 3,803 4,089 2,906

Large Trucks 3,548 3,797 2,679

Buses 270 304 241

INJURIES

● Large Trucks and Buses 74,280 79,731 57,132

Large Trucks 59,586 64,338 46,639

Buses 15,469 16,327 11,311

*First time MCMIS crash data have been reported in FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Safety Progress Report.

**States are expected to report crash data to FMCSA within 90 days of the crash. Data are considered preliminary for 18 months to allow for changes.

PROGRAM OUTPUTS FY 2010 FY 2011*

FY 2012 Q1*

Oct. 1, 2011 – Dec. 31, 2011

Federal State Federal State Federal State

● Warning Letters 15,328 42,540 6,302

CARRIER REVIEWS

● Total Reviews Performed 12,281 7,874 11,080 7,332 2,823 1,766

Hazardous Material (HM) Reviews 1,943 1,108 1,176 867 228 172

Household Goods Reviews 561 6 292 11 50 —

Passenger Carrier Reviews 1,079 270 1,020 275 288 107

Motorcoach Reviews 880 164 740 151 200 65

BY REVIEWS IN PHASED COMPLIANCE SAFETY ACCOUNTABILITY (CSA) STATES

● Total Reviews Performed 9,997 5,365 8,849 4,978 2,303 1,192

Full Compliance Reviews 8,116 4,884 4,460 3,529 726 625

Focused Compliance Reviews *** *** 3,240 1,075 1,353 471

BY INVESTIGATIONS IN 100% CSA STATES – AK, CO, DE, GA, KS, NJ, MD, MN, MO, MT

● Total Reviews Performed 2,284 2,509 2,231 2,354 520 574

On-Site Comprehensive Investigations 365 417 522 802 106 214

On-Site Focused Investigations 584 612 987 767 269 176

Off-Site Investigations 333 356 315 298 62 67

INVESTIGATION FOLLOW-ON ACTIONS

● Cooperative Safety Plans (CSPs) 429 479 103

● Notice of Claims (NOC) 7,128 6,816 1,071

● Notice of Violations (NOV) 95 139 31

● Unsat/Unfit Out-of-Service (OOS) Orders 1,005 912 199

● 90-Day No-Pay OOS Orders 1,597 1,638 342

● Imminent Hazard OOS Orders 5 10 6

NEW ENTRANT SAFETY AUDITS

● Total New Entrant Safety Audits

(Percent Completed on Time)

34,143

(92.9%)

34,266

(89.1%)

7,286

(89.0%)

● New Entrant Pass Rate 72.6% 65.0% 72.6%

INCREASING SAFETY AND SECURITY AWARENESS

● HM Package Inspections 6,624 4,711 967

● Security Contact Reviews 1,897 904 142

ROADSIDE INSPECTIONS

Total Truck and Bus Inspections 3,569,450 3,598,296 847,549

● Trucks 129,501 3,344,356 129,592 3,353,592 25,388 796,282

HM Trucks 5,386 205,453 4,902 203,525 774 44,648

● Buses** 12,336 83,257 11,779 103,333 2,603 23,276

Motorcoaches 9,921 15,791 8,720 20,232 1,896 5,205

DRIVER/VEHICLE INSPECTIONS/OOS RATES Driver Vehicle Driver Vehicle Driver Vehicle

● Total Number of Truck Inspections 3,424,806 2,330,263 3,427,992 2,327,813 812,095 535,451

● Total Number of Bus Inspections 46,095 82,893 54,063 95,501 13,867 21,100

● Truck OOS Rate 5.3% 20.4% 5.0% 20.8% 4.9% 20.6%

● Bus OOS Rate 4.9% 6.7% 5.9% 6.9% 5.1% 7.1%

*Data are considered preliminary for 18 months. Release Date: April 17, 2012.

**Level 7 school bus inspections are not included.

***No interventions of this type for the given year.

Note: Individual subtotals may not add to totals due to the potential for double counting (e.g., fatalities or injuries in a truck-bus crash).

Source: All data from Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS), as of January 2012 snapshot.
1

Changes to the Motor Carrier Safety Progress Report December 31, 2011

I. Use of MCMIS Crash Data 

The December 31, 2011 Motor Carrier Safety Progress Report uses the state-reported crash data from 

the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) for reporting fatalities, injuries, and 

crashes involving large trucks and buses. Previous reports relied on the Fatality Analysis Reporting 

System (FARS) and General Estimates System (GES) data received from NHTSA. The MCMIS crash data 

are available more quickly than the FARS and GES which typically are not available until sometime 

between July and December of the year following the crash. MCMIS data also allow information to be 

reported on a quarterly basis. Since States have 90 days after a crash to report the data to FMCSA, the 

first report that will provide complete CY 2011 crash data will be the report “as of March 31, 2012.”

Additional changes to the crash data displayed in the Safety Progress Report result from the differences 

in how crashes are defined:

Fatal crashes: The MCMIS fatal crash data will differ slightly from FARS because MCMIS uses the gross 

combination weight rating (GCWR) to determine if a crash should be reported to MCMIS, where FARS 

uses the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). Thus a truck pulling a trailer where the GCWR is greater 

than 10,000 pounds would be reported in MCMIS as a large truck crash, but would not in FARS if the 

GVWR of the truck alone was not greater than 10,000 pounds. 

Non-fatal crashes: GES data are estimates based on a sample survey of crashes, whereas MCMIS 

contains a census of all large truck and bus crashes reported to FMCSA by the States. There are also 

definitional differences between GES and MCMIS. MCMIS uses the National Governors’ Association 

recommended crash thresholds to define injury crashes as ones where the person injured is taken to a 

medical facility for immediate medical attention, and tow-away crashes as ones where at least one 

vehicle is towed from the scene as a result of disabling damage suffered in the crash. GES follows the 

National Safety Council’s KABCO scale where injury crashes involve disabling, evident, or possible 

injuries, and property-damage-only crashes involve no fatalities and no apparent injuries. Thus the 

MCMIS injury and tow-away crashes are subsets of the GES-eligible injury and property-damage-only 

crashes, and therefore are always less than the GES estimates.

II. CSA Data

The second set of changes provides additional information related to FMCSA’s enforcement programs 

and investigation follow-on actions. Until the full implementation of the CSA program across all of the 

States, the 100% CSA State activities are displayed separately from the States that are “phasing” the 

implementation. The reviews and interventions conducted by both groups add up to the “total reviews 

performed,” but the activities differ between the two groups. The new report contains an array of preand post-investigation actions such as warning letters, notices of violations, and out of service orders.
2

III. New Entrant Data

The final set of changes is to the new entrant and roadside inspection programs. The previous Federal 

and State information on the new entrant program is combined to be more reflective of the overall 

program. Data are also presented on the rate at which new entrants are “passing” their safety audits. 

IV. Roadside Inspection Data

The roadside inspection information related to “At U.S. Borders” has been removed. A more detailed 

look at roadside inspections and other FMCSA Safety Programs is available through the FMCSA Analysis 

& Information Online website (http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SafetyProgram/home.aspx). Information related 

to the U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border Trucking Pilot Program is provided at the program’s website at 

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/intl-programs/trucking/trucking-program.aspx. 

(April 17, 2012 release)