Document ID: FMCSA-2004-18898-0088
Agency: fmcsa
Document Type: Rule
Title: Withdrawal of Proposed Improvements to the Motor Carrier Safety Status Measurement System: Implementation of a New Carrier Safety Measurement System
Posted Date: 2010-04-09T04:00Z

[Federal Register: April 9, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 68)]
[Notices]               
[Page 18256-18259]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09ap10-149]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2004-18898]

 
Withdrawal of Proposed Improvements to the Motor Carrier Safety 
Status Measurement System (SafeStat) and Implementation of a New 
Carrier Safety Measurement System (CSMS)

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The FMCSA announces that it will replace its Motor Carrier 
Safety Status Measurement System (SafeStat) with an improved Carrier 
Safety Measurement System (CSMS) on November 30, 2010. The CSMS has 
been developed and tested as part of the Agency's Comprehensive Safety 
Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010) initiative. Therefore, FMCSA is withdrawing 
the notice of proposed improvements to SafeStat that was published for 
public comment on May 3, 2006. SafeStat is an automated algorithm 
currently used by FMCSA to identify high-risk and other motor carriers 
for on-site compliance reviews. By implementing the new CSMS algorithm, 
FMCSA will be able to better identify high-risk motor carriers, make 
more efficient and effective the Agency's and its State partners' 
allocation of compliance and enforcement resources and provide the 
motor carrier industry and other safety stakeholders with more 
comprehensive, informative, and regularly updated safety performance 
data.
    From April 12, 2010 to November 30, 2010, FMCSA will provide 
individual motor carriers with a preview of their performance data at 
http://csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov. This preview in advance of full 
implementation on November 30, 2010, will improve safety by effecting 
early compliance and providing opportunities for motor carriers to 
become better educated on the new CSMS.

DATES: Submit comments before September 30, 2010.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the Docket Number in 
the heading of this notice by any of the following methods:
     Web site: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the

[[Page 18257]]

instructions for submitting comments on the Federal electronic docket 
site.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, 
DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery: Ground Floor, Room W12-140, DOT Building, 
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. 
E.S.T., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
    Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments and 
for additional information, see the Public Participation heading below. 
Note that all comments received, including any personal information, 
will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov. Please see 
the Privacy Act heading below.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov at any time or to 
the ground floor, room W12-140, DOT Building, New Jersey Avenue, SE., 
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., E.S.T., Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays.
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19476) or you may visit http://
docketsinfo.dot.gov.
    Public participation: The www.regulations.gov Web site is generally 
available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. You can get electronic 
submission and retrieval help and guidelines under the ``help'' section 
of the http://www.regulations.gov Web site and also at the DOT's http:/
/docketsinfo.dot.gov Web site. If you want FMSCA to notify you that we 
received your comments, please include a self-addressed, stamped 
envelope or postcard or print the acknowledgement page that appears 
after submitting comments online.
    Comments received after the comment closing date will be included 
in the docket, and we will consider late comments to the extent 
practicable.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Bryan Price, Federal Motor Carrier 
Safety Administration, 1000 Liberty Avenue, Suite 1300, Pittsburgh, PA 
15222, Telephone 412-395-4816 E-Mail: bryan.price@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010)

    CSA 2010 is a major FMCSA safety initiative that will improve the 
effectiveness of the Agency's compliance and enforcement programs. CSA 
2010 will help the Agency assess the safety performance of a greater 
segment of the motor carrier industry and allow it to intervene earlier 
with more carriers to change unsafe behavior and practices. The 
ultimate goal is to achieve a greater reduction in large truck and bus 
crashes, injuries, and fatalities, while making efficient use of the 
resources of FMCSA and its State partners.
    In contrast to the Agency's current operational model, CSA 2010 is 
characterized by three principal components:
    (1) A more comprehensive carrier safety measurement system;
    (2) A broader array of progressive interventions to augment 
comprehensive on-site investigations (compliance reviews), including 
warning letters, off-site investigations, and on-site focused 
investigations; and
    (3) A new safety fitness determination (SFD) methodology based more 
on performance data and not necessarily tied to an on-site 
investigation. The third component, a new process pursuant to which 
FMCSA will formally propose and assign adverse SFDs--for example, unfit 
determinations and resulting prohibitions on operations--is the subject 
of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that will be published for 
comment at a later date during 2010.
    This Federal Register notice addresses implementation of only the 
first component, a more comprehensive safety measurement system to 
identify and prioritize motor carriers for investigation. The new 
measurement system would be used to identify high-risk motor carriers 
for on-site investigations consistent with section 4138 of the Safe, 
Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy 
for Users (SAFETEA-LU), [Sec. 4138, Pub. L. 109-59, 119 Stat. 1745 (49 
U.S.C. 31144 note), August 10, 2005]. Furthermore, the new CSMS also 
would provide motor carriers and other safety stakeholders such as 
shippers with regularly updated safety performance assessments through 
a public Web site (http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov).
    FMCSA had originally planned to roll out CSA 2010 beginning in the 
summer of 2010. However, the Agency has received valuable feedback from 
its partners and stakeholders through CSA 2010 listening sessions and 
written comments to the CSA 2010 public docket referenced above. FMCSA 
has also gained valuable knowledge from its operational model test, 
involving nine States, which began in early 2008 and concludes in June 
2010. Therefore, FMCSA has decided to move the beginning of CSA 2010 
rollout from the summer to the fall of 2010. This will enable the 
Agency to incorporate comments and lessons learned into the CSA 2010 
model prior to national rollout. Therefore, on November 30, 2010, FMCSA 
is planning on: (1) Replacing its current measurement system, SafeStat, 
with CSMS, (2) sending warning letters nationwide, and (3) implementing 
a revised nationwide Inspection Selection System for roadside 
inspectors that will be based on CSMS rather than SafeStat. The nine 
states currently operating in the operational model test will carry out 
the full array of CSA 2010 interventions after the test concludes in 
June 2010. These States are Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, 
Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, and New Jersey. For the 
remaining 41 States the new CSA 2010 interventions will be phased in 
during 2011. While the SFD rulemaking is in process, the Agency will 
continue to issue safety ratings in accordance with 49 CFR part 385--
Safety Fitness Procedures.

Implementation of New Carrier Safety Measurement System (CSMS) To 
Replace SAFESTAT

SafeStat

    The FMCSA's current operational model employs SafeStat to analyze 
the safety status of individual motor carriers in four analytic Safety 
Evaluation Areas (SEAs): (1) Accident, (2) Driver, (3) Vehicle and (4) 
Safety Management. The four SEA values are then combined into an 
overall safety status assessment, known as a SafeStat score. For a full 
description of the SafeStat methodology, visit the FMCSA Web site at: 
http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov.
    In 1997, FMSCA's predecessor Agency implemented SafeStat nationally 
as its primary tool for identifying high-risk and other motor carriers 
for compliance reviews. SafeStat results have also served as a 
prominent factor in roadside screening systems used by FMCSA and its 
State partners to identify motor carriers for increased inspection 
activity at the roadside.
    In 1999, SafeStat data became available to the public on the 
FMCSA's Analysis and Information (A & I) online Web site http://
ai.fmcsa.dot.gov. Motor

[[Page 18258]]

carriers, the insurance industry, shippers, safety advocates, and other 
interested parties began routinely accessing SafeStat data online for 
use in their own safety analysis and business decisions. In 2004, FMCSA 
removed public access to the Accident SEA due to problems with the 
completeness of crash data reported by the States at that time and 
because the raw crash data reported by the States generally do not 
include an indication of preventability or accountability. The 
remaining SafeStat data displayed at http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov (Driver, 
Vehicle and Safety Management SEAs) continued to serve as a valuable 
source of information to motor carriers and other stakeholders. In 
fact, during calendar year 2009, the SafeStat online web site recorded 
nearly 4 million user sessions.

New CSMS

    On November 30, 2010, FMCSA plans to replace SafeStat with the new 
CSMS. The new CSMS will work within the CSA 2010 operational model to 
monitor and quantify the safety performance of commercial motor 
carriers using data available in FMCSA's motor carrier database, the 
Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS). Under CSA 2010, 
these data would include violations found during roadside inspections, 
traffic enforcement, and other types of interventions. The new CSMS 
groups these data into seven Behavioral Analysis Safety Improvement 
Categories (BASICs): Unsafe Driving, Fatigued Driving (Hours-of-
Service), Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances and Alcohol, Vehicle 
Maintenance, Cargo Related, and Crash History. FMCSA developed the 
BASICs under the premise that commercial motor vehicle (CMV) crashes 
can ultimately be traced to the behavior of motor carriers and drivers.
    There are three important ways that the new CSMS is different from 
the Agency's current measurement system, SafeStat. The new CSMS:
    1. Is organized by seven specific behavioral areas (BASICs), while 
SafeStat is organized into four broad SEAs;
    2. Uses all safety-based inspection violations, while SafeStat uses 
only out-of-service violations and selected moving violations;
    3. Uses risk-based violation weightings while SafeStat does not.
    For further information on the new CSMS see the Safety Measurement 
System Methodology at http://csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov.
    When the new CSMS is implemented on November 30, 2010, motor 
carrier BASICs will be publicly displayed at http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov in 
the same manner that the SEAs are displayed today under SafeStat. As 
discussed above, FMCSA removed public access to the Accident SEA on 
SafeStat because of problems with the completeness of State crash data 
at that time and because the data do not include information on 
preventability or accountability. FMCSA is currently conducting a 
feasibility study on using police accident reports to determine motor 
carrier crash accountability before the crash data are entered into 
CSMS. Until this analysis is completed, the Agency will continue to 
follow its current policy under SafeStat: the crash data will be 
displayed publicly, but the CSMS assessment of a motor carrier's crash 
history will not be publicly displayed.

Industry Preview

    Since 2004, FMSCA has been actively consulting with, and preparing, 
the motor carrier industry and other safety stakeholders for 
implementation of CSA 2010 and the new CSMS to replace SafeStat. The 
Agency first held a series of public listening sessions on the broader 
overall CSA 2010 initiative and the new CSMS in September and October 
of 2004. These six sessions were designed to collect public input on 
ways that FMCSA could improve its process of monitoring and assessing 
the safety performance of the commercial motor carrier industry. A 
broad cross section of stakeholders, including industry executives, 
truck and bus drivers, insurance and safety advocacy groups, State and 
local government officials, and enforcement professionals participated 
in the sessions (Docket Number FMCSA-2004-18898). Following these 
initial public listening sessions, FMCSA held annual formal public 
listening sessions across the country between 2006 and 2008 to prepare 
the motor carrier industry and other stakeholders for CSA 2010 
deployment and the new CSMS. Most recently, in December 2009, FMCSA 
held two webcasts that included over 3,000 participants. These can be 
viewed on the CSA 2010 Web site at http://csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov. In all 
of these formal sessions, in addition to FMCSA's other proactive 
outreach activities, differences between SafeStat and the new CSMS were 
emphasized to prepare the motor carrier industry and other stakeholders 
for implementation of CSA 2010 and the new CSMS.
    On April 12, 2010, FMCSA will undertake an additional step to 
prepare the motor carrier industry and other stakeholders for 
replacement of SafeStat with the new CSMS. FMCSA will provide 
individual motor carriers with a preview of their performance data at 
http://csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov, sorted into the BASICs as it will be in 
the new CSMS. To view their data, motor carriers will have to enter 
their Personal Identification Number (PIN). Motor carriers that do not 
have a PIN, or those that have forgotten their PIN, can go to the 
following Web address for assistance: https://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/
LIVIEW/PKG_PIN_START.PRC_INTRO. This preview in advance of CSMS 
implementation on November 30, 2010 will improve motor carrier safety 
by encouraging early action by carriers to correct and prevent 
violations, especially in areas that are not currently measured by 
SafeStat.
    The FMCSA is currently considering refinements to the CSMS with 
regard to issues such as methods of measuring exposure, peer grouping, 
and violation severity weighting, based upon public comments received 
thus far and observations resulting from the CSA 2010 Operational Model 
Test. As a result, initially this preview will not provide motor 
carriers with an assessment of whether their performance in the BASICs 
is above FMCSA thresholds that warrant an intervention in the broader 
CSA 2010 Operational Model Test. Assessments will be added to the 
preview Web site after completion of the CSA 2010 Operational Model 
Test, and after any refinements are made to the CSMS during the summer 
of 2010 but before implementation on November 30, 2010. Thus, motor 
carriers will have approximately 7\1/2\ months to view their roadside 
violations data from the CSA 2010 perspective--mid-April through 
November 2010. For the first 3\1/2\ months--mid-April through July 
2010--carriers will see their violations categorized by BASIC. 
Beginning in August, after the refinements to CSMS are complete, motor 
carriers will be able to see an assessment of their violations through 
CSA 2010. The purpose of this data preview period is to provide 
individual motor carriers with the opportunity to view their data from 
the CSA 2010 perspective, and to use the time to identify and take 
actions to correct deficiencies in their operations which are leading 
to unsafe behavior.

New CSMS for Identification of High-Risk Motor Carriers

    In section 4138 of SAFETEA-LU Congress emphasized the importance of 
directing compliance review resources toward high-risk motor carriers 
as follows:

[[Page 18259]]

    The [FMCSA] shall ensure that compliance reviews are completed 
on motor carriers that have demonstrated through performance data 
that they pose the highest safety risk. At a minimum, a compliance 
review shall be conducted whenever a motor carrier is rated as 
category A or B for 2 consecutive months.

    The Conference Report for SAFETEA-LU further clarified Section 4138 
as follows:

    Senate Bill:
    The Senate bill requires the Secretary to ensure that safety 
compliance reviews of motor carriers are completed for carriers that 
have demonstrated that they pose the highest safety risk. A single 
compliance review is required for any motor carrier that is rated as 
category A or B for two consecutive months.
    Conference Substitute: The Conference adopts the Senate 
provision with a modification to clarify that multiple compliance 
reviews are not required for carriers that are rated as category A 
or B for more than two consecutive months.

H. Conf. Rpt. No. 109-203, at p. 1003 (2005).

    The term ``SafeStat'' is not specifically mentioned in the statute 
or conference report. However, the SafeStat-related terminology, 
``rated Category A or B'' is used. Although it does identify those 
motor carriers that ``pose the highest safety risk'' consistent with 
section 4138, the new CSMS is not designed to generate alphabetized 
lists of motor carrier safety performance categories. In FY 2009, the 
Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate, recognized in its report 
accompanying the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and 
Related Agencies Appropriations bill, 2009, that FMCSA is developing a 
new means to identify high-risk motor carriers and expressed support 
that the initiative will improve the Agency's performance:

    As the Committee noted last year, the agency is undertaking a 
comprehensive overhaul of all of its systems in order to better 
target its resources on the riskiest carriers. The agency is also 
seeking ways to reach more carriers through its inspection efforts 
by employing interventions that are less resource intensive than a 
full-scale compliance review. The Committee agrees that the agency's 
systems and procedures for conducting oversight need to be 
dramatically improved, and hopes that this initiative will improve 
the agency's performance.
    The Committee notes that the agency has already completed 
several tasks including the development of the Behavioral Analysis 
and Safety Improvement Categories [BASICs] for carriers and drivers. 
These will be important in identifying and targeting risky carriers 
for intervention.

S. Rep. No. 110-418, at p.88 (2008).

    Beginning on November 30, 2010, FMCSA plans to implement the new 
CSMS to identify high-risk motor carriers and to meet the intent of 
SAFETEA-LU section 4138. The new CSMS effectively identifies as many 
high-risk motor carriers and more precisely identifies their specific 
performance problems than the current method. Furthermore, FMCSA 
operational policies will continue to require onsite investigations 
(i.e., compliance reviews) of these high-risk motor carriers. The FMCSA 
therefore believes that its planned action of implementing a more 
effective method of identifying high-risk motor carriers, and 
continuing to require on-site investigations of these motor carriers is 
fully consistent with section 4138 of SAFTEA-LU.

Comments

    FMCSA requests comments on the above initiatives and the CSMS 
methodology, http://csa2010.fmcsa.dot.gov. Commenters are requested to 
provide supporting data wherever appropriate.

    Issued on: April 6, 2010.
Anne S. Ferro,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2010-8183 Filed 4-8-10; 8:45 am]
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